A Friend Will, But A Best Friend
by Sarcastic-Bones
Summary: A series of maybe-related one-shots in the life of Rose/Scorpius based off different sayings. Chapter 1: A friend takes the blame for you, A best friend screams "She did it! She did it! I'm innocent. She did it!
1. She did it! She did it! I'm innocent

**So basically, I can't remember which user, but I came across a list of sayings on a fanfiction users authors page which included things such as "A friend takes the blame for you, A best friend screams "She did it! She did it! I'm innocent. She did it!"" and I immedialty thought it would be a wonderful idea for a string of Rose/Scorpius one-shots. If it was you, I thank you.**

**I hope you all enjoy this one and let me know what you think? Also, I hope you stick around for the ones to come. They'll all be similar characterisations of Rose/Scorpius but perhaps not the same story. Considering they're just random moments in their life during and post Hogwarts they could well be related one-shots.**

**Also, if anybody has any suggestion sayings just fill in the phrase "A friend _. A best friend_" and message me or leave it in a review and, if I can, I'll write a one-shot on it. I really want to get you guys involved in this and I love suggestions.**

**Enjoy!  
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><p><strong>A friend takes the blame for you<strong>

**A best friend screams "She did it! She did it! I'm innocent. She did it!"**

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><p>I was not having a very good day.<p>

Or more, I was not having a _good_ day.

My best friend Scorpius Malfoy smirked at me from across our foul smelling potion.

Scratch that, I was having a _terrible_ day.

When Scorpius was secretly amused, it meant a trick was brewing, and if I was not in on the trick, it meant bad things for me.

I glared at his stupidly handsome face as I angrily tore off parts of the roots I was supposed to be cutting into precise slices and threw them into the alarmingly orange cauldron.

He rocked gleefully on his heels, grinning at me, obviously wanting my attention.

I rolled my eyes, _He was like a child._

"Rosie…" He whined quietly.

I flicked my eyes up at him in warning that I was in a bad mood, then returned to taking my anger out on the ingredients.

Not only had I had hardly any sleep last night, but my parents had decided to ground me and revoke my allowance because they thought _I_ had been the one to throw a house party in the half term when they were away (even though it had _obviously_ been Hugo)! This, in turn, meant that I couldn't go out with my cousins Saturday night to celebrate James' 18th birthday.

I was _not _happy.

"Rosieeeeee…."

"Scorpius," I snapped. "Don't test me."

He paused, taking in my words, weighing whether or not he could get away with annoying me further. I could tell he was going to ignore my warning.

I glanced back down at the roots, half surprised to realise I'd ground them all up. I moved on to grab the next ingredient, but my hand was stopped by the sound of Scorpius' amused whine, "Rooooooosie!"

My head snapped up so fast he flinched from his position beside me, having crossed the table when I ignored him.

"Scorpius, you're my best friend, but I swear to Merlin I will pour this potion down your throat if you do not leave me alone this once."

He blinked.

Then smirked.

"You're angryyyyyy," He sung.

"Damn right I'm angry!" I exclaimed, letting out my anger through my words. I slammed the blunt side of my knife down on the newts eye and stuck it in the now bubbling cauldron, not even bothering to cut off the part that wasn't supposed to be used. "All anyone has been talking about for the past six months has been how amazing James' birthday is going to be. I've even bought my outfit and planned taxis and _everything_! And then my _parents_," I spat the word, frustrated, as my hair frizzed about my face, "decide to just turn around and _ground _me, as well as taking my allowance away! So everyone can go and have a wonderful time but me! So, yes, Scorpius, I _am_ very, very angry!"

He stared at me, dumfounded.

Before he could open his mouth to respond, Nadia glided past with her prefect vial of perfect potion, took one snooty glance at mine and advised condescendingly, "You really should tame that concoction, Rose."

As she strutted away, I glared daggers at her and Scorpius had to physically restrain me from releasing all my anger on her as I stepped round the table.

His arms came round from behind to hold me to his chest as I muttered a string of impressive swear words and curses under my breath at her. I struggled and tried to shake him off, but he was strong.

"Let go! I'm gonna _kill her_. Who does she think she is! I'll give her something to _tame!_"

Our commotion was concealed by the rowdy classroom for a few moments, then everything was drowned out by the sound of our tumultuous potion as it exploded.

"Scor, get off-"

We jumped out of our skin, along with the rest of the class, as the vibrant orange and blue fumes and sticky liquid burst out of the cauldron with a _'bang!'_ and splattered every surface it could reach, namely Scorpius and I, who were still in an awkward hold

The room went deathly silent.

Then Professor Brian raised his large bulk from his chair at the front of the room and pointed an accusing finger at Scorpius and I, who were frozen to the spot, as the vein in his forehead pulsed. "Weasley and Malfoy!"

There was another pause, then Scorpius released me, took one step away and pointed his own hand at me, an expression of feigned innocence on his face, "She did it! She did it, I swear I'm innocent. She did it!"

I turned to glare at him again but, like always, it was only half-hearted when it came to Scorpius. "Gee, thanks for backing me up there, Scor."

Face turned away from the teacher, he smirked at me. "It's true!"

"It-" I attempted to argue but Professor Brian interrupted, knowing that once we got started on an argument it would take an age to stop it.

"Weasley, did you put those ingredients into the potion which allowed it to over boil and explode?"

"I-"

"Yes or no?" He gazed sternly at me.

I sighed in defeat. "Yes…" I mumbled.

He sighed too, "Detention."

"But, Professor!"

"No _'but''_s!" He countered. Scorpius giggled under his breath at my horrified expression, amused, until Professor Brian turned to him too. "You too, Malfoy."

"Wh-" He looked crestfallen.

I smirked, suddenly entertained. "Cheer up, _bestie," I patted him patronisingly on the top of the head, "at least we'll have each other."_

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><p><strong>So, I think I can write much better ones, but this is just a beginning taster. I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to let me know your thoughts!<strong>_  
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	2. It's because you're gay, isn't it?

**Okay, so this is the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed the first one and thank you so much for the feedback. Unfortunately the others probably won't be up so fast - I'll most likely be confined to writing on the weekend.**

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><p><strong>A friend wipes your tears when you're rejected.<strong>

**A best friend goes up to him and says, "It's because you're gay, isn't it?"**

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><p>I loved Sunday nights.<p>

I didn't have to worry about a social life, because I'd already been out on Friday and Saturday. I had little or no homework because I'd already done it earlier in the week or weekend. I didn't have to write to my mother, because she always wrote to me on a Monday morning therefore it would be pointless.

All I had to do was sit in my room, or Common Room, and relax. Usually with a book, but sometimes Rose would join me and we'd play Wizard's Chess.

Tonight I was sitting in my room, laying on my stomach on my bed, book open in front of me as I slowly became engrossed in it.

My roommates Andrew, Carl and Donnie had disappeared into one of the girl's dormitories to play truth or dare so I didn't have to worry about them interrupting me.

Just as I turned the page to eagerly start a new chapter, I heard the quiet yet unmistakable sound of our secret knock on the door.

I sat up quickly, closing my book and shoving it under my bed as I hurried to the door.

It was unusual for her to come directly to my room without warning me. Since students had been able to use mobile phones, she'd normally text me first.

All confusion disappeared when I wrenched open the door to see her; dishevelled, fragile, upset.

"Oh, Rosie," I mumbled in response to her sad smile, which backfired because she ended up releasing fresh sobs, and then I engulfed her in a hug.

She was tiny in comparison to me, my shoulders easily in line with the top of her head.

I rocked her back and forth in the doorway for a moment, murmuring soothing words and stroking her hair as she cried into my shoulder, then I ushered her inside, away from prying eyes.

I sat her on my bed and gave her an old-fashioned handkerchief emblazoned with the Malfoy family insignia from my jeans pocket, of which my mother had insisted on hiding throughout my suitcase in an effort to teach me _'Gentleman-like manners'_.

She smiled weakly again, taking the handkerchief gratefully and wiping her eyes and nose with it.

"Th-Thank you," She hiccupped.

I sat down beside her, placing my arm over her shoulder.

I was a jerk to her a lot of the time, but she was still my best friend, and I cared about her a lot.

"Tell me what happened," I coaxed her gently, rubbing circles onto her arm to sooth her.

"I… He…," Then she burst into tears again.

"Oh, shhhh… Come on, Rosie, shhhh…"

"It's not- he… Aaron… he- he didn't…"

I understood completely from those few words.

"Aaron doesn't like you?" I asked carefully. Be too patronising and Rose would turn on me, be too detached and she'd close up completely and not tell me anything else.

She nodded. "He… knew I was… to prom… but he- he let me a-a-ask anyway… He…"

Another fit of tears took over her and she turned to sob into my shoulder again, drenching my shirt with her tears.

I rubbed her back soothingly as she cried and anger building up within me.

_Nobody_ hurts Rose Weasley and gets away with it. Not even Aaron Cole.

"Listen to me, Rosie," I pulled back and shook her gently so that her devastated, mascara-run eyes looked weakly into mine. "_You_ are so much more than Aaron _Cole_ could ever be. You're clever and funny and beautiful and he is an idiot who doesn't know the difference between a Hippogriff and a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

"He-He's _A-Aaron Cole_," She sobbed, her expression defeated. "He's _p-p-p-perfect_."

I sighed once, half-mock annoyed and half determined, then I stood up, placing her hands in mine and taking her with me.

I mock glared at her. "_You_ are perfect," I stressed.

She blushed slightly, then looked towards her feet.

I realised that I may have just revealed too much in my hast to cheer her up. Berating myself, I coughed awkwardly, hands still in hers, and grinned to cover up my feelings. "Now, we're going to get this sorted once and for all."

"Scorpius!" She warned as I pulled her down the corridor.

"Stop complaining, Rosie," I teased. "Trust me."

I heard her let out a strangled complaint as we descended the staircase into the Slytherin Common Room.

"Scorpius…" She whispered warningly. "Please don't. I've already been humiliated in front of everybody…"

"I'm not going to embarrass you, I'm just going to _talk_…" I grinned, a mischievous glint in my eyes.

We reached the group of students from our year, fifteen or so who orbited Aaron like he was the sun. Rose half hid behind me - she wasn't usually one to shy away, but she was afraid in this instance of what might happen.

The laughter subsided as Aaron looked up at us from his position on the carpet, in the middle of the group who sat around him and on the armchairs to the side.

His eyes narrowed when they set eyes on me.

"Malfoy," He spoke harshly - using my last name was a way to remind me of my family's past failures, no doubt. I ignored it.

"Aaron," I grinned warmly. "How are you?"

"Fine…" He hesitated, eyeing me wearily.

"And how's everybody else?" I smiled again, glancing between the other students who believed themselves cooler than me.

They looked at me with pointed distaste and annoyance, wondering why I was even talking to them.

"Get on with it, Malfoy," Aaron snapped in a haughty manner.

"Right-eo," I grinned again. Rose's nails dug into my arm as Aaron glanced at her and his lips twitched as he tried to suppress a smile at her and the memory of how funny he evidently found humiliating her to be. "Just a few quick questions."

"Go on," Aaron waved his hand, obviously enjoying his superior position in granting me permission to talk to him.

"Firstly, you rejected Rose when she asked you to prom?"

They was scattered laughter from the group as Aaron smirked to himself and Rose whispered a half-hearted complaint.

"Scor, can we just leave…"

"Okay, only one more question, I promise," Then I glared at him. The sudden contrast between my happy demeanour and my evident anger made him blanch and flinch. "Okay, so, considering Rose isn't a bimbo, and she isn't boring and she _certainly _isn't ugly-"

"-You take her to prom, then," Aaron interrupted.

"Oh, I will," I glared back.

"Then what is your point?" He snapped.

"Because of these things I, like every other intelligent person, can only come to one conclusion. You rejected Rose, obviously for one reason."

"Which is?" He asked amused.

"It's because you're gay," I declared. "Isn't it?"

The group of students around us burst into laughter as Aaron's face turned from embarrassment to anger to embarrassment again.

It wasn't that we thought being gay was cause for laughter or anything, there were a fair few students who were and who we all treated equally, it was simply that Aaron, a guy who had been brought up with traditionalist attitudes and prided himself on sexual conquests, would obviously be surprised and annoyed by the suggestion.

I ignored the other's laughter and looked at Rose, who was also laughing. I grinned at her as she mouthed 'Thank you'.

Then Aaron shut them all up as he darted to his feet and marched up to me, fist raised. "Don't you _dare_ accuse me of being gay just because I don't fancy _her."_

He pointed a finger with his other hand at Rose as he pulled his fist back to punch me across the face.

Quick as my Quidditch skills let me, I grabbed his fist, twisted it so his whole body was forced to crumple forwards, and kicked him between the legs. Releasing his hand, he fell to the floor in pain.

"Yep," I grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her away from the group. "It's because you're gay."

Rose giggled from beside me as we made our way across the common room towards the stairs. The other students looked on in surprise, confusion and amusement as I called "Aaron Cole came out! If any guy is looking, I hear he needs a date for prom!" as we went.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading. I'd love a review to know if you want me to continue this story on.<strong>


	3. Man, we screwed up

**Thank you guys so much if you read and reviewed this story. This chapter was one that a lot of you wanted to see, so I decided to write it (please don't abandon me now?) and I hope you like it. I tired to keep my Rose/Scorpius similar to earlier cdharacterisations of them, and I hope it turned out as a good scene.  
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><p><strong>A friend bails you out of jail,<strong>

**A best friend sits next to you saying, "Man we screwed up. Let's do this again."**

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><p>I paced back and forth in the dull cell, my hair whipping around my face as I turned sharply on my heels every three steps of so and stormed back across the cell.<p>

The only seat was the short bench beside me, on which sat a slumped over Scorpius Malfoy, head between his knees in an effort not to throw up and to ease his throbbing headache.

"I'm going to kill you," I declared for possibly the hundredth time that night.

"Can we have this conversation when I'm not so confused please?" He muttered back, his words muffled but his tone evident - irritation.

"No, we cannot!" I snapped as I turned again and paced to the other row of bars. "Honestly, how can you be calm in a situation like this?"

"I'm not," He groaned impatiently, looking up at me finally. "And will you _please_ stop pacing."

"Yes you are," I ignored the latter half of his words and pointedly spun again, retracing my line to the other side of the prison cell. "You're sitting there perfectly calm in your expensive jeans and pristine shirt whilst I probably look like any old riffraff off the street with my make-up all over the place."

He sighed, leaning his head back against the stone wall, "I'm not _calm_, Rose. I'm drunk."

The he grinned at me.

"And proud," I scoffed.

Despite my tone, he nodded boastfully. "Well, maybe just a _little _tipsy."

I stopped finally, turning to glare at me. The cell they had placed us in was small - I think they'd done it on purpose to annoy me even more - small enough that there was only space for the bench in one half and my pacing spot in the second half. Scorpius was directly in front of me, smirking at my bossy 'hands-on-my-hips' posture and stern expression.

"I'm going to kill you," I repeated simply.

The bastard grinned again, probably just because he liked to tease me. "Look, Rose, we didn't use any magic and your cousins are obviously going to bail us out. None of the adults need to know we got arrested. Besides, it's a freak occurrence - unless you harbour a secret rebel self?"

As he spoke he shuffled on the bench ninety degrees, leaning on the bench so that he could rest his back and relax his legs across the whole stretch of wood. He placed his hands behind his head, grinning much too cheerfully at me.

I rolled my eyes.

"By all means," I said sarcastically. "Make yourself comfortable."

"Well, I, for one, think a short stint in jail is good for the soul. Besides, we had fun, right?"

I hesitated. _Okay, so it _had_ been fun… up until the arresting started._

I sat down on the bench, squashing his legs and forcing him to unwillingly sit up as I sat facing him.

"_Why_ did you have to punch that guy?" I reprimanded him half-heartedly.

His titled his head at me in a pointed _'oh please'_ expression. "We all knew he was asking for it. I gave him fair warning."

"You said _'Oi, mate, piss off'_…"

He stared at me with an expressionless face, then exclaimed, "Exactly!"

I shook my head, a slight smile working it's way onto my face, "Scorpius! That doesn't count as _'fair warning'_."

"Harassing you, trying to touch you up, then calling you a slut for ignoring him is not the way a gentleman should talk to a lady," He insisted. "Therefore, he deserved it."

I glared at him. "He _did_ deserve it… but I didn't want you to get in trouble because of me, Scor."

He smiled affectionately at me, "I'll always get in trouble for you, Rose."

I tried not to blush, but it didn't work. I titled my head to cover the redness with my bright hair. We were both silent for a moment, then I sighed.

"If only we hadn't got that warning earlier on by the same policeman…" We both chuckled at that. "_Why _did we decide Titanic on the park bench was a good idea?"

"That may have had something to do with the copious amounts of alcohol we had consumed…"

"Or your declaration that you would make the perfect Leonardo DiCaprio."

"Hey!" He protested, grinning, as I brought my knees up to hug them to my chest. "_You _insisted you were the perfect Rose first!"

"Well, it _is_ already my name!" I exclaimed.

He laughed. "I suppose you _do_ have the hair…"

"Exactly!"

"Exactly," he nodded. "Re-enacting Titanic was a great idea."

"Roping in passers by to be icebergs and shouting at the top of our lungs in a residential area at one in the morning probably was not…"

We laughed again at the memory.

Don't get me wrong - I didn't _usually_ do this kind of thing… but it was Scorpius' birthday on Wednesday and I was feeling a little stressed out. Plus, I was powerless to anything he wanted.

When our laughter subsided, the last remnants echoing off the walls, Scorpius suddenly stated, "Man, we screwed up. Let's do it again."

I slapped him on the knee, because it was directly next to mine and easy to reach. "_You_ screwed up. I did nothing wrong."

"Oh, contrariwise, Rosie, _you_ were the one who provoked the policeman in the first place."

"I did not!" I must have looked aghast, because he cracked up immediately upon seeing my expression.

"You were following his footsteps _exactly_ and repeating everything he said in a French accent for five minutes non-stop."

"I…" My excuses died as I recalled the memory. _Well, at the time it had _seemed_ like a good idea._

"Stop that," Scorpius suddenly drawled in a bad French accent, attempting to imitate my voice too. "Ee'll hav zoo arrested!"

I couldn't help but laugh at my stupidity, even though I could think of nothing worse than being in jail.

At least I was with my best friend.

Scorpius always seemed to be able to cheer me up and make me laugh, no matter the situation.

Suddenly a young police officer, probably no older than thirty, came and collected us for our standard one phone call.

As he escorted us down the corridor, I said, "I've never really thought about who I'd call with my one phone call until now. I never imagined I'd be in this situation…"

"Me neither," Scorpius agreed. I gave him a quizzical, disbelieving look - if anybody I knew would wind up having to be bailed out of jail, it was Scorpius, because he was a _'act now, ask questions later'_ kind of guy.

He caught my expression then amended, "Oh, not me, come on, I'm a natural rebel… I meant _you_."

I nodded. "That makes sense. So, who d'you think you'll call?"

"That's easy. I've had my person picked out since forever."

"Who is it?" I asked, genuinely curious. _Al? No, he'd tease him or refuse to come. His cousin, Clive? No, he was in Florida…_

"My mum," Scorpius smirked. "Obviously."

I laughed, "You're going to call your _mum_? I can just have Lily bail us both out, you know."

"And miss a chance to see her go mental and call me a loser who will never get anywhere in life? Never. It's too fun to watch her blow her top. Plus, I think she's always expected me to get into some sort of legal trouble sooner or later, so better it was something minor like this and not murder or something."

I shook my head as I chuckled, disbelieving. As we stopped by the phone and it was handed to me, I said, "You're one strange, masochistic boy."

"I prefer the term _'strange, masochistic __**man**__'_, if you please," He joked.

Then Lily answered the phone with an unbelievably cheerful, "Hello, Lily speaking."

"It's me. I… need you to come get me."

"Sure thing, cousin. Where abouts are you? At your parents? Cause I was just about to head to Mark's so I could pick you up on my w-"

"No, Lils. I'm… I'm in jail."

The phone was silent. Scorpius gave me an mused look, then mouth _"You're dead."_

"Lily?"

"Jail? Rose Weasley in _jail_? You've _got_ to be kidding me! No. No way is she… the only way you could be… was if-Oh my gosh, let me speak to Scorpius!"

"Lily," I sighed, but a smile played at my lips as I mouthed Scorpius' works back at him. He looked ten percent confused, ninety percent terrified - Lily was _scary_. "I don't have long before my time's up. We're at that small two-celled excuse for a jail on the side road by Club 66. _Please_ can you come and get me? I don't-"

The line went dead. I hung up irritably at the stupid timed phone call they allowed us.

"Is she coming?" Scorpius asked as he pushed himself away from the wall and dialled a numbed into the phone.

"I sincerely hope so," I leaned on the other side of the phone box. "If not, how does you mum fell about dual bail?"

"She'll probably be up for it. She already thinks we're secretly dating," Scorpius smirked. My eyes widened in surprise. _She did?_ _Why? How? When?_

Then Scorpius' eyes twinkled as someone evidently picked up the phone on the other end.

"Hey, mum…" He spoke enthusiastically into the phone. "Guess where I am?"

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><p>We'd been led back to our cell and left to our own devices. We played 'Would you rather' a few times, simply determining that Scorpius would rather be a fish than a frog and that I would choose a zombie apocalypse over vampire invasion, then got bored.<p>

After an hour of waiting, the buzz from the alcohol began to wear off and tiredness took its place. We ended up sleeping tucked side by side on the narrow wooden bench, Scorpius' arm draped over my shoulder to keep me pressed against his body and so from falling onto the cold floor.

Just as I began to drift into a strange half-dream-like state, a sharp rattling on the metal cell bars jolted us awake.

I promptly fell flat on my face on the floor as Scorpius bolted upright, rubbing his eyes.

"Guess who?" Lily sang happily.

I climbed to me feet with the help of Scorpius' proffered hand. We both turned to glare at Lily.

"Girl with money, I hope," I grumbled.

"Tut tut," She teased cheerfully. "If you're going to be like that I guess I'll just go home. I'm sure everyone will be wanted to know where you are in the morning. Besides, you looked awfully cosy just now…"

I blushed violently as Scorpius responded in an equally teasing tone, "Actually, it was."

Part of me wanted to question that, the other part figured he was winding Lily up, as he usually did. A third, more dominant part, realised Lily was here for a reason, and I was desperate to get that reason fulfilled and get home to my nice warm bed.

"_Please_, Lily," I begged, stepping forward and gripping on to the bars.

She paused, her face neutral, then motioned for the officer to open the doors. "Relax," she smirked. "I already paid for your bail… and lover boy's too."

I glared again as we both exited the cell. We walked to the parking lot in silence, then the lights of a sleek Aston Martin rounded the corner and the tyres screeched towards us, halting a few yards away.

"You are in big trouble, Mister! The furious voice shouted as Astoria wound down the window. "Get in. Now."

Scorpius grinned at me. "Later, cell buddy."

"You're masochistic," I teased back judgementally at his grin as he climbed into the car.

It drove away as Lily turned to me. "So… are you going to tell me what happened, or should I blackmail you first?"

I rolled my eyes as I got into the passenger seat, "It's a _looooong _story, Lily."

But I grinned at the memory anyway.

Scorpius may attract trouble, but he made life interesting.

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><p><strong>Thank you so so much for reading. I'm having a little trouble with inspiration at the moment, so any phrase suggestions we be wonderful! Also, let me know what you thought about this chapter. x<strong>


	4. Ergh, you're sick Get away from me!

**Hey, this one's shorter, but I just felt it wouldn't work as a longer one. Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed/favourited/alerted this. You guys have been giving such amazing feedback and you're all wonderful. Plus, you've been awesome with the phrase suggestions.**

**I hope you like this one. It's back at Hogwarts - thank gosh. :)  
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><p><strong>When you are sick, a friend will offer you sympathy,<strong>

**A best friend will say, "Stay away from me, I don't want what you have!"**

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><p>"Face it, you're sick."<p>

"Um noght!"

I flayed my hands about for a second, irritably throwing back the covers a little.

My dorm mates, Sarah and Kat, shook their heads at me as they finished straightening their uniform, ready to go down to breakfast. I glared back defiantly, despite my vibrant pink pyjamas.

"You need some rest, Rose," Kat told me kindly. "Sarah and I can bring you up some pumpkin soup later if you like?"

I grimaced. "I'm coming down."

Smiles played at their lips, but I wasn't trying to be funny, I was _trying _to get them to listen to me. I was _fine._

"You won't make it through half of Charms before we have to get Malfoy to drag you back to bed again," Sarah sighed. "You may as well stay here and rest."

"But-"

"We'll bring you you're homework and extensions if we must, just _stay here._"

"I'gh perfectly cabable of goig to clasch," I huffed as I tried to stand up. The world started spinning, and Sarah had to help me back into bed.

"No, you're not. You've got a bug and you'll probably have it for a few days, so you _need_ to rest and stop worrying about work. Do it when you're better."

"But I can't juscht _lay_ here, doing nubbing," I complained weakly as I huddled the blankets tighter around me. "I'll go _crazy._"

There was a knock on the door, then a cheerful "Guess who?" sang through the door.

"Go away," I joked, but wished I hadn't a second later - raising my voice hurt my head. And my throat.

Kat strode over and opened the door whilst attempting to do up her tie.

"Here comes trouble," she murmured just before Scorpius was revealed.

He was leaning on the doorframe, tie loose, shirt half unbuttoned, hands in his pockets, sly grin on his face. He wandered in and took a seat on my bed.

"What's up with you?" He asked, "How come you're not dressed? Thought we were busting out for Hogsmeade later?"

"She's sick," Kat told him.

He turned to look at me, alarmed, then jumped up from the bed as if he'd been shocked. "Stay away from me! I don't want what you have!"

I glared at him, tilting my head with my eyebrows raised, then I crawled forwards and slapped him round the back of the head.

"Ouch!"

"You're my frienb," I stated as I slumped back into the middle of the large four-poster, sniffling. "You're schupposed to helb me!"

"Help you what? You'll make me sick!"

"Shno!"

"_So_," He stressed the pronunciation properly just to annoy me._ "_I'm looking for a date to Hogsmeade next weekend for Valentine's Day. I can't be sick!"

He genuinely looked aghast, but sat on the bed besides mine anyway. Sarah gave him a dirty look, because she'd just finished making it and he'd ruffled the covers.

"Right, we're going to leave _before_ Sarah kills Scorpius," Kat declared, dragging her neat-freak friend out of the room. "We'll bring you back some soup for lunch, Rose."

"Make it pumpkin!" Scorpius called after them, smirking as the door swung shut. "She hates it!"

Whilst he was distracted with his own joke, I picked up a plain white pillow from my bed - one I'd been sleeping on last night - coughed on it for good measure, and then called his name.

"Hmm?"

As he turned, the pillow hit him square in the face.

"Rose!" He complained loudly as he jumped to his feet, floundering his arms about like an idiot. "What if you make me sick?"

"Schop schmirghing," I answered shortly.

"Smirging?" He asked, throwing the pillow back at me, his eyes lighting up in amusement as he causally leaned back on Sarah's bed. "What's that?"

"I _shed_ schmirghing!"

"Schmirghing?"

"_Schmirghing!_" I snapped, but the word still came out wrong. And my best friend was just laughing at me more. "Schgorbiush!"

"Who?" He asked, grinning, as he tried to subdue his laughter.

"You know who!" I glared at him, then sniffed pathetically, which ruined the effect "I may be shick, bug I can shill hegsh you!"

My head _really _hurt, my throat hurt, my stomach hurt. And now my ego hurt, because he was grinning at me as if I was the most amusing thing in the world.

It was embarrassing.

I hated being sick, and he knew it. I always felt so… out of control. I couldn't do anything and I had to rely on other people to help me, even sometimes when I was better again to help explain the work I'd missed.

Suddenly his eyes turned soft. "Have you been to see Madame Pomfrey? Maybe she'll have something to give you to stop you being sick."

"I'm nog shick!"

"Rose."

"I'm-"

"Rose."

"I…" My protest was cut short by his sympathetic, serious look. And by a rather loud, violent sneeze from me. I fell back against my pillows, defeated. "Alrighg… I may be shick…" I admitted.

"Want me to escort you to the Hospital Wing?" He asked kindly. He actually looked concerned. "You've gone a funny green colour."

"I'm nog that-" Then I felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my head and had to physically stop myself from throwing up. Scorpius glanced at me, concern etched deeply across his face. I stared back for a moment, knowing I must have looked pathetic. "Yesh, please…" I mumbled.

He stood up willingly and offered me his hand.

"Finnally," He told me gently, smiling kindly. "You're so stubborn, sometimes."

"I'm nog!-" I started to protest as I carefully got to my feet.

Then I caught sight of his grin, and I shut up immediately. He was teasing me.

"See what I mean?" He joked lightly. "But don't worry, Rosie…" He leaned in close. "I love that about you."

And he winked cheekily at me.

Yes, I blushed.

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><p><strong>I hope you liked it! Again, I know it's repetitive, but please review, just in case I forget about this story and need a reminder to get myself writing another chapter! Thank you for reading. x<strong>


	5. Move a house next time, not a body

**Okay, so this quote was suggested to me first by SabreDae, and I think a few others also mentioned it later on. I hope you enjoy it. Also for those asking about more romance between Scorpius/Rose, I'm gradually building it up. Starting with this one. :D**

**I hope you like it.  
><strong>

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><p><strong>A friend will help you move house,<strong>

**A best friend will help you move a body.**

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><p>"Ouch! That's my foot!" I exhaled in annoyance, raising my voice as much as I dared.<p>

"Sorry!"

"Watch where you put his- Ouch!"

"Sorry!"

"For Merlin's sake, Scorpius, you're no help whatsoever. You're just making this harder."

He huffed, then let go of the teenager we were carrying through the silent, cold and dreary corridors of Hogwarts. Through the flicker of fire from the brackets on the walls, I caught his raised eyebrows as I lurched forward to grab the teenager's other hand to prevent him from slamming into the floor.

I lowered the boy slowly and then straightened up, wobbling slightly in my platform heels, to glare at Scorpius.

"What was that for?" I hissed as quietly as I could.

"Next time ask me to help you move house, or something, Rose. You're too stressed when it comes to people," He told me breezily. "If you don't want my help with him-"

"Of course I do!"

"Okay, if you can't _appreciate_ my help," Scorpius smirked back, leaning casually against the stone wall on the opposite side of the corridor. "Then I'll just go back to the party."

I must have looked desperate, because he chuckled. "_Please_ don't leave me with _him_."

I pointed an accusing finger at the slumped over boy on the floor, my cousin Al. He was now laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling. At my action, he turned his face slightly to look at us, his glazed-over eyes barely registering what we were doing or talking about.

"Hey, Rosie! There's no stars! " He shouted reproachfully, as if it was my fault. I winced at the loud noise and the thought of which teacher he might attract at any moment. "Loony Luna always says that stars are the most f.. f… most fund… f… most _important _things _ever_!"

"Right you are, Albus," Scorpius grinned at the rigidity in my shoulders as I glanced up and down the corridor.

"Shh, don't encourage him, Scorpius," I whispered, then shuffled back over to Al and knelt beside him. "Hey, Al, I need you do to something for me. You think you can do that, yeah?"

He watched me wearily for a moment. I waited impatiently for his sluggish brain to catch up. "Dunno, R-R-Rosie… What's n.. in it for _moi_?"

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes at my drunk cousin. "Okay, erm…" I scrabbled to think of something.

"Hey, Al," Scorpius suddenly called across to him. "Want to play a game?"

"Sure," Al grinned. "Chess?"

"Er, no, something else."

"Why not Chess?" Al looked much too annoyed at the idea of not being allowed to play chess. "Just cause you get beat all the time."

My lips twitched at that, trying not to smile as Scorpius' face hardened for a moment - he hated that Al and I could beat him so easily at chess.

"Cause there's no chess board, _Albus_," He snapped. "Anyway, how about we play _'Who can be quiet the longest?'_"

"That game sucks," Al complained loudly, much to mine and Scorpius' annoyance.

I turned to him. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

"Games normally work when he's drunk," Scorpius pointed out, also at a loss for what to do.

"Hey!" Al shouted loudly, waking up a few paintings nearby. "I'm not drunk!"

"Yes, you are," I mumbled quietly.

Unfortunately, he heard. "I'm _not!_" He yelled, his voice echoing down the corridor.

Even Scorpius winced. If somebody heard, we were _so _in trouble. Not only because we were out of bed after hours, but also because Al was _very drunk_, we had also been drinking and we had been to a late night party.

"I, er… wasn't talking about you," Scorpius lied as I tried to force Al off the floor, sure that if the paintings knew we were here, the teachers would too soon.

"Yes, you were," Al huffed dramatically. "I'm _hurt_, Scorpy. You hurt my feelings. I am _never_ _ever_ drunk."

"You're right, Al, sorry," Scorpius sighed, knowing he might as well appease him to get him to shut up. "I was talking about Rose."

"Oh no," Al shook his head. "Rose isn't drunk. She talks about you _constantly_ when she's drunk." He nodded his head exaggeratingly as I blushed violently.

A sober Al would never have divulged that information - I had him under threat of a nasty hex if he ever did whilst sober.

"Does she now?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows and smirked at the knew information he'd just learnt.

"Honestly, Scor, I never remember any of it. I don't mean to - I swear."

"I think she _lurves_ you," Al continued, much to my dismay. I felt like I wanted to be just about anywhere else than in that corridor right at that second.

Scorpius chuckled quietly. "That's because we're secretly dating, Al."

"Scorpius!" I reprimanded him, aghast. "Don't! He'll think you're being serious!"

Al, as if to prove my point, gasped loudly. "I knew it!"

Scorpius smirked at me and laughed at the trouble he was stirring up as he took Al's other arm, placing it more securely over his shoulders as we hauled Al round the next corridor.

I grunted at his weight. _Only three more floors to go._

"This would be so much easier if we could take the stairs," Scorpius whispered to me behind Al's back.

I shook my head. "Too open. Teacher's will see us. Besides, we're nearly there. We got him all the way from behind Hagrid's, up the hill, past the greenhouses, through the Entrance Hall, down six corridors and up two flights of stairs. We can do this."

We turned a sharp bend in the corridor, only to spot Professor McGonagall standing directly three metres in front of us, facing the opposite direction as she complained that Peeves' excited babblings about students was making no sense.

"Hey, it's McGon!-"

Scorpius shoved his hand over Al's mouth, but it was too late.

"Students out of bed!" Peeves giggled mischievously, pointing over McGonagall's shoulder.

Scorpius and I swiftly dragged Al backwards and round the bend, out of sight as McGonagall began to turn round to face where we had been standing only moments before.

As McGonagall's heels clacked slowly against the tiles, Scorpius and I locked eyes. Within that one second, we conveyed a plan to one another.

I wrenched open the broom closet behind me, and Scorpius shoved Al in there, whispering frantically. "Al, if you stay here until we come back, I'll take you to the Quidditch World Cup this year."

Al, even when drunk, loved Quidditch too much to jeopardise that opportunity.

I waved my wand, having just enough time to cast _Muffliato _and a spell to conceal the cupboard door. It blended into the wall, looking like uninterrupted stone.

"Chameleon spell," I breathed to Scorpius as we glanced around desperately for a place to hide ourselves, the sound of McGonagall's shoes clacking on the stones becoming louder by the second.

There was a small indent in the wall where a suit of armour was stationed just beside the cupboard, and we darted towards it together as McGonagall rounded the corner.

The gap was barely big enough for one student, let alone two.

Luckily I was petite, and Scorpius slender from Quidditch, and we managed to just fit, our bodies pressed together. I could feel his heart beating just as fast as mine was as his arms came round me to prevent me from moving, my hands on his chest, faces inches apart.

I could hear his breathing, as quiet as it was.

His eyes bore into mine in the darkness, suspense and anxiety etched across his face as McGonagall's footsteps stopped, centimetres from where we stood, on the other side of the suit of armour.

The space we were hidden in was covered by shadow so we weren't immediately visible if one didn't look too hard.

I prayed she didn't.

After what felt like an eternity of holding my breath, sure she would spot us at any moment, we heard her irritated snap at Peeves, "For Merlin's sake, there's nobody here! Students out of bed…" She shook her head as she turned the corner and heading back down the corridor the way she'd come - the way we needed to go.

Scorpius and I stayed rooted to the spot, unable to move, as the sound began to die away.

"If she'd found us, we'd have been in serious trouble," Scorpius breathed, for once serious. "We're already on her list."

"And who's fault is that?" I joked softly.

His chest rumbled under my hands as he laughed quietly. "Just as much yours as mine, Rosie."

I huffed at that. "If you say so…"

"Hey, I'd never let you get expelled."

"You damn well came close to it just now," I protested half-heartedly. I knew it wasn't really his fault, nor was I actually blaming him. Even though he was the one to suggest we drag Al back to his bed in the first place.

"Hey, that was all Albus," He grinned. "If he hadn't gotten so drunk we wouldn't have to take him back to Gryffindor Tower in the state he's in, risking our third strikes."

"Three out of three," I muttered, anxious.

_What if she _had_ found us?_

_Oh gosh, mum would be devastated. Dad would be disappointed. Uncle Harry would be upset…_

_Uncle Fred would be proud._

_Oh Merlin! I was so in trouble._

_I was a _terrible_ student! I was never going to get Head Girl next year!_

"Hey, Rose," Scorpius breathed gently, extracting one of his arms to softly tilt my chin up to look at him as he noticed my panicking expression. "Don't worry about it. I _promise_ you that I'll never let that happen."

"I know…" I sighed, glancing down again. "I just-"

"I _promise_," He stressed, his eyes boring into mine again as I looked up with such force and feeling that my cheeks flushed pink and I suddenly realised how close we were.

_It would be so easy to just reach up on your tip toes and-_

_Rose! This is _Scorpius_, stop it!_

He suddenly seemed to notice that I was uncomfortable, and his mood immediately responded as he realised why. He coughed. "We should probably get Al…"

"Yeah, good idea," I sighed as he stepped back into the corridor, giving me some room to breath. For a second, whilst he couldn't see me, I mouthed 'What just happened?' to myself and rubbed my face with my hands.

I heard him struggling with Al as he tried to get him onto his feet and in a position in which we could carry him easily.

I stepped back out into the corridor and came to join my favourite cousin and… best friend. Scorpius grinned at me from across the now sleeping Al as I took his arm and placed it round mine.

I suddenly felt butterflies in my stomach. I felt dizzy, light-headed, as Scorpius watched me.

He looked _good_.

_Really _good_._

His hair was ruffled and his clothes, just casual with jeans and the shirt I'd given him for his birthday, were crumpled from the rowdy party. His eyes, stormy grey and captivating, twinkled as I looked on.

"Thank you," I breathed quietly as Scorpius hauled Al up and we started off again, quietly. Thankfully Al wasn't snoring, yet.

"For what?" Scorpius smiled sweetly, for once not making fun of me.

"For this, for helping," I glanced at my shoes nervously, expecting a sarcastic remark at any moment, then back up at him, as we headed up a flight of stairs that were hardly ever used, even in the day time.

"Of course," He beamed in the candlelight. "What are best friends for?"

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><p><strong>I hope you liked it! I'd love a review? Anything you'd like to see between RoseScorpius? Any character you'd like to see? I've had Al and Lily, but I might try to include Molly Weasley or one of the adult Weasleys in one of the next chapters**. **Hopefully I'll get a chance to put Teddy in, if you guys want.** **Let me know.**


	6. Run, Loser, Run!

**Hey guys! I'm so so sorry it's taken me **_**so**_** long to update this, but I had so much trouble with it. I originally intended to write a completely different phrase, and I edited it and edited it and edited it and when it came to uploading it… I still hated it. So I changed my mind and decided to write this fun one. :D I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Some of you really want this to remain a friendship piece, and a few have asked if there's going to be any romance in it so I'm going to say that this is a friendship piece **_**mostly**_**, but because the shots are not related some may hold romance/ScoRose at different stages of their relationship, which is why there were some hints in the last chapter of Rose liking Scorpius. Basically, whatever random scene forms itself into my imagination will be written, LOL, an some **_**may**_** hold more romance than others. I hope you don't mind that? :D**

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><p><strong>This one was suggested by hppenguin0023 and pirategypsy:<strong>

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><p><strong>A friend gives you their umbrella in the rain,<strong>

**A best friend takes yours and says, "Run, Loser, Run!"**

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><p>It wasn't that I didn't <em>like<em> Herbology. After all, I had taken it for NEWTs, I must have found _something_ enticing about it. It's just… at times like this I wonder why they couldn't just put the greenhouses closer to the main castle.

I stood in the Entrance Hall, huddled against two of my cousins by the open Hogwarts doors, staring out into the mist and rain and dreariness. Al, Lucy and I were wrapped up like mummies in scarves, hats, gloves, jumpers, coats, cloaks and ear muffs.

And we were still cold.

All morning throughout Charms the wind had whipped against the trees, causing them all to come alive with violent movements, almost as if they were miniature Whomping Willows. The rain had been rather subdued, on first glance, but as the students from other houses passed us in the corridors during morning break, we soon realised that they were drenched and that the rain was actually of that type that soaked you to the bone in a manner of seconds.

We were _not _looking forward to heading to Herbology.

The greenhouses were made of a flimsy material that had only stood through the bad weather due to magical enchantments. There were splits in the roof which Professor Longbottom hadn't quite got round to filling in yet or insisted were 'good for the plants', and the windows were constantly of a mind to stubbornly refuse to shut.

In short, we knew it was going to be a cold and depressing lesson.

And we still had to _get_ there.

"I don't know about you, but I'm thinking now is a _brilliant _time to head back to bed?" Al commented.

Lucy's teeth chattered in response. I was distracted by thoughts of curling up by the fire in the Gryffindor common room in my duvet and sleeping until dinner time.

"You know what," Sarah, a fourth year from Ravenclaw and in our Herbology class, announced as she came and joined us by the door, surveying the weather. "It's not so windy any more, just chucking it down. I say we get out our umbrella's and make a run for it past the mud."

"Sounds good to me," Lucy agreed. "I'm not standing here all day. I'm freezing, and I don't want detention too."

"Come on then," Al sighed, as he, Sarah and I got out our umbrella's and put them up, stepping into the elements.

We'd taken three steps in the mud, slowly traversing the troublesome terrain before making a run for it, when Lucy mumbled from her position wedged between Sarah and Al, under his umbrella. "Is it too late to change my mind?"

"Yes," I mumbled back, concentrating on the floor. "Unless you want dete-"

I slipped, but Al managed to catch me before I landed in the mud. He quickly hid back under his umbrella, leaving me to get drenched with rain for a few seconds before I pulled it back up to cover me.

"Thanks for letting me under your umbrella, Al," Lucy mumbled as she hugged his arm for warmth. "It took me ages to do my hair this morning."

"Lucy," I sighed. "You're wearing a hat."

"And making it look _goood."_

I rolled my eyes and shuffled back to join their huddle, Sarah kindly picking a few leaves out of my hair. Unfortunately, the mud remained.

_Great, I was never going to wash that off before it hardened and I was stuck stinking of mud all day._

We reached the end of the mud and shared a compulsory, '_It's now or never'_ glance, before taking off. Al gave Lucy free hold over the umbrella so that her hair remained dry no matter how much the umbrella was thrown about by the movement of their running. Sarah, being a cross country champion, was half way to the greenhouses before I'd even started running.

I bolted as fast as I could down the slippery bank, running at a diagonal angle so that I reached the greenhouses quickly rather than heading directly down towards Hagrid's and veering off.

I got roughly a quarter of the distance before I heard my name being called through the wind, which was now picking up.

I spun on reflex, recognising the voice of Scorpius Malfoy.

He rain towards me like a madman, his arms flailing about in the wind, his jumped and shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his cloak and coat nowhere to be seen.

_He must have been freezing._

I stopped running at the sight.

He was just _asking_ for a cold.

"Scorpius!" I called back to him as he approached. "What the hell are you wearing? You're gonna freeze!"

"Lent my coat to my dumb sister!" He replied as he neared. "And you've got my cloak, you numpty!"

I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the emerald stitching in the hood. _Whoops…_

"I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't worry, Rose!" He yelled over the wind just before he reached me. It was then that I noticed he wasn't stopping, he was still running full pelt towards me. _Was that my imagination, or was he actually running to my left?_ "'Cause I've got your umbrella!"

And then he snatched it out of my hand as he legged it past me, laughing his head off as he went.

I spun in surprise to watch his retreating figured as he turned to look at me, running backwards, already a good ten metres away.

"Scorpius Malfoy, you _idiot_!"

"Run, Loser," He grinned, making an 'L' shape on his forehead with the hand not holding _my_ umbrella. He turned back to give me a nice view of his fading back as he disappeared into the now heavy fog. "Run!"

I glared after him until I realised (a) he couldn't see me, and (b) I was getting pelted by the freezing rain.

I legged it to the greenhouses, already drenched through to the skin.

_What was the point of wearing so many layers if I was just going to get cold and wet anyway?_

_At least the mud was out of my hair._

I stormed into the half-full greenhouse, my godfather Professor Longbottom giving me a half-hearted glare at the dramatic entrance.

I waltzed right up to a smirking Malfoy, undid my coat and his cloak and threw his cloak over him, wet-side up.

"Hey!" He complained as he hurried to shrug it off, but his voice was still amused. I rung my soaking hat out over his hair for my own amusement.

"I hate you."

"I'm your best friend," He grinned

"I hate you."

"You love me."

I sulked and took my seat next to him. Then I sneezed, feeling a cold coming on.

"I hate you."

He laughed.

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><p><strong>I hope you liked this. <strong>_**Please**_** leave me a review if you can? I'd love any prompts for scenes also! :D Thank you for reading!**


	7. It's Definitely Mine

**Hey again everybody!**

**Yep, that's right, I'm still here! Your eyes do not decieve you, this _is_ another chapter of Friend, Best Friend! (Finally!)**

**So sorry it took so long, I have forgot about this. I have two other half-written chapters, so hopefully they'll be up quicker, especially now that my long Help Me, Please ScoRose is finished.**

**I hope you enjoy this one. It's got more of a flirty/romance ScoRose, which I enjoyed writing, but there will still be friendship chapters coming. I hope you all like this! Let me know?**

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><p><strong>Suggested by heatherblaze:<strong>

**A friend borrows your stuff for a few days,**

**A best friend keeps your stuff for so long they forget it is yours**

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><p>The Seventh Year Boys' Dorm in the Slytherin dungeons was eerily quiet when I knocked on the door after dinner.<p>

My eyebrows creased slightly, and I glanced back down the corridor to see if anybody was around.

Nobody.

I sighed aloud.

_Where was he?_

I hadn't seen Scorpius in almost two weeks, apart from the occasional glimpse in the hallways or brief chat between lessons as we hurried past each other in opposite directions. He'd said specifically that we could meet after dinner tonight because he _finally _wasn't busy with Quidditch.

Going two weeks without a best friend to talk to was depressing.

So when he didn't answer the door to his unusually empty room, I decided just to wander in. He'd probably be here soon.

As soon as the door opened, I heard the shower running. None of his roommates were around, and I knew it had to be him in the shower because there were clothes strewn all over his bed.

I kicked them off haphazardly, and flopped down on to his bed with a sigh.

His room was a mess - with five teenage boys, what else would you expect? - but I fished his hoodie out from under a pile of his clothes on the floor and put it on.

It was always cold in the dungeons.

I relaxed back on the bed, sprawling out and making myself at home, and was just starting to feel drowsy when the water was shut off, and I heard him whistle.

He traipsed out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist, humming his version of the Hogwarts theme tune and completely missing me as I lay practically attached to his warm bed.

He opened his underwear draw and went to take off his towel.

"Might wanna start scanning rooms before you get naked, hot stuff," I joked.

He jumped, yelped like a girl, and turned to stare at me with wide eyes. "What the hell?"

I grinned. "You said _'meet at seven'_. It's seven."

"So you commandeered my bed?" He asked, incredulous.

"What's wrong, don't enjoy having a girl in your bed, Mr Malfoy?" I raised my eyebrows teasingly.

He smirked.

"Well…" He started as he sauntered over.

As soon as he got within reach to touch me, I caved. I squealed and jumped off the bed.

"Okay, okay, okay, you win!" I grinned.

"As I always do," He told me triumphantly as he got up and began looking for some clothes to wear. "By the way, I like the bow."

"The what?" I asked, confused. From his position leaning over the bed, he turned and gave me a charming smile.

"That large brown bow in your hair?" He pressed, amused. "No? Not recollecting that?"

"Oh!" I chose to ignore his teasing. "The bow. Right. Yes. Lily borrowed it from me, wanted an accessory that didn't clash with her hair. She gave it back to me at dinner and I didn't have anywhere to put it so I put it on."

"Well…" He straightened up, having pulled his jeans on under his towel. "It looks… nice."

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, thanks."

"Good," He hurried to say, now looking round for some other item of clothing. "Great. Pretty."

I grinned. "Relax, Scor, I'm not actually fishing for compliments, I'm just teasing you."

He shot me another smile.

"What do you wanna do tonight, then?" He asked, now kicking his clothes about in annoyance.

"Erm, I don't mind really… whatever you- Scor?"

"Hmm?" I could see he was working himself up in to a frenzy, but he stopped to look at me.

"What are you looking for?"

"My Zonko's hoodie," He said. "I can't find it anywhere…"

"You mean the Zonko's hoodie I'm currently wearing?" I raised my eyebrows as he pretended to look annoyed.

"Hey, that's my favourite hoodie!"

"But, let's face it, it looks a darn sight better on me," I grinned and struck a pose.

He titled his head and narrowed his eyes. "If you're just here to steal my stuff, Miss Weasley, I-"

I laughed, and he smiled. "_Me_? _Me_ steal _your_ stuff? How long have you had my Quidditch goggles? Or my Chess set? Or my Charms textbook for?"

He picked up the textbook on the side of the desk. "This Charms textbook?" He smirked.

I made to grab it, but he held it out of my reach easily, leaving me reaching out on all fours across his bed.

"Scorpius!"

"Yes?" He asked innocently.

"Scorpius!"

He laughed. "Okay, I'll give you the others, but this _is_ actually my book, I swear."

"No it's not!" I laughed.

"It is!" He complained, smiling, as we sat on the bed. "I think I remember which books are mine."

"Oh really?" I challenged, taking the book easily out of his hands and flipping to the inside back cover. I read aloud. "_'This book is the property of Rose Molly Weasley'_… and then underneath that it clearly states: _'Not Scorpius Malfoy'_."

I gave him a triumphant grin, and he rolled his eyes at me.

"I swear it was mine," He complained childishly.

"Hmm," I teased, rolling out of his bed and onto the floor because I couldn't be bothered to stand up. "Let's see what else you've got hiding round here that's mine…"

I was now on the floor on all fours, rooting around under his bed and pulling out random objects.

"Er, Rose?"

"Hmm?"

"You might want to remember that this is the bedroom of five teenage guys…"

"So?" I mumbled pulling a box out from under his old Hogwarts cloak.

"So I should warn you now that I can't be held accountable for what you find," he replied, and then I heard the bed springs creak as he threw himself onto it, casually laying his hands behind his head.

"I'm a big girl, Scor, I think I can handle- Oh my god!" I shoved the lid back on the box and rammed it back under his bed.

"Found the-"

"Yep."

He laughed as I sat back on the side of his bed, just about managing to find myself enough space to squeeze my body next to his thighs. "I did warn you."

"You dirty boy," I teased again, slapping him on the leg.

He just threw his head back and laughed again. "Okay, so now that I've been forced to give you _my_ charms book-"

"_My_ charms book!" I reminded him with an exasperated laugh myself. "I have proof!"

"Proof smoof," He waved his hand dismissively as I stared down at him. "You know you'll never get it back for long. I don't have the manners of Lily."

"Hey, I've got an idea," I suddenly exclaimed as if I'd just had an epiphany. "How about you buy your own Charms book?"

He gave me the most shocked expression he could muster. "Are you kidding me? I can't afford that!"

"Scor," I laughed. "You're bloody loaded."

"Yeah, but girls are expensive."

I slapped him again. "How about you stick to the _one_ girl then?"

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked seriously.

"Well maybe you'll actually feel like you're loved for once, and girls won't be gushing over you all the time and getting into ridiculous catty fights over which one of them you _belong_ to. Plus, it would be nice for once to be able to walk into a bathroom and not feel like I'm going to throw up over all the bimbos who are describing your _techniques_. I mean, honestly, any one would think you were frickin' king of the world with the way they fawn all over you like they're not being used."

"Whoa," He simply stated when I was finished. "Where did that come from?"

I was breathing somewhat heavily, my cheeks flushed from embarrassment. I hadn't meant the outburst, but these were things which already irritated me, and realising these past two weeks that I maybe depended on our relationship a lot more than I'd thought just made me more irritated.

Plus, there was also the fact that I was more than a little jealous.

"Sorry," I sighed. "You know how I feel about your reputation. It degrades women."

"It's cause you're jealous," He grinned cheekily at me, hitting the mark exactly, but evidently not quite realising it.

That's what I liked about Scorpius - he didn't get mad at my opinion, he just accepted it as my own, and tried to calm me down.

Unfortunately, he was now using something completely true to tease me, and I didn't have a flirty comeback.

I shot him a warning glare. "No, it isn't."

"Just a little…" He continued, ignoring my look.

It was time I left before I said something stupid.

I stood up abruptly. "I've got to go."

"But…" Now he was sitting up too, as I crossed to the door. His tone had turned wary, his expression confused and worried. "What's wrong? I thought we were going to hang out? I was only teasing, Rose, I swear. We can talk about something else, if you like. Whatever you want."

"I… shouldn't have been so rude, I'm sorry," I tried to pry the door open, but he was suddenly there, wedging me against it so that it remained closed.

Hands either side of my face, his weight leaning into me, he scrutinised my face carefully. "What's wrong, Rose? Did I do something…"

"Could you…" I bit my lip in nervousness and closed my eyes. "Could you put a shirt on, please?"

And suddenly the mood lightened a little, a light obviously switched on in his head.

I didn't have to look to know that he was smirking, but I did look anyway. "Am I distracting you?" He breathed, teased.

"Don't use that charm smile on me, hot stuff," I teased back, embarrassment from my outburst fading away. Flirting I could do, it was normal for us. "I'm not going to be seduced that easily."

"What if I reminded you that I'm not wearing any underwear?" He whispered softly in my ear, his lips brushing my skin ever so gently.

"Well, damn," I spoke aloud, my emotions getting the best of me, and I reached up to kiss him.

He didn't hesitate, and neither did I.

To be honest, it was about time one of us caved.

It wasn't until I pushed him backwards and his knees buckled from the impact of the bed, bringing us both tumbling down, that I broke away.

He was breathing heavily, looking a little dazed, hair a mess.

"Well, damn," He repeated, pulling the bow Lily had only given back to me earlier that evening out of my hair so all of it tumbled down my back. "Didn't expect you to actually give in."

"You know me," I told him truthfully, smirking as I rested my hands on his still bare chest. "I don't do the expected."

Then I made to push away from him. He caught my hands to stop me.

"Where do you think your going, babe?"

"Babe?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

He looked completely unfazed. "You wanna know why I never tried the one girl thing?"

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask. _So sue me, I was curious._

"Didn't have the right girl," He didn't even look the slightest bit embarrassed.

"That's so cheesy," I rolled my eyes, but I kissed him again.

"Does this mean I can keep the book?" He asked hopefully as I sat up.

"Scorpius?" I smiled slightly.

"Hmm?"

"Not a chance."

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading! I'm honoured with the amount of reviewsreaders this story is getting, so thank you all! :D**


	8. Ron Weasley 'The Auror'

**Thank you for the awesome feedback from the last chapter. :D You're all awesomesauce.  
><strong>

**I'm sorry I got this one up so late - I promised it would be up by last weekend, but, well... I'm not a huge fan of this one, so I've been putting it off. I hope _some_ of you like it though, so please let me know any thoughts you have on it.**

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><p><strong>This one was prompted by artyfan:<strong>

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><p><strong>A friend will hide you from the Aurors,<strong>

**A best friend is the reason they're after you in the first place.**

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><p>"Shhh," I snapped at the annoying boy huddled to my right.<p>

He grinned at me, completely unfazed by my words or tone. "Why, Rosie, there's no need to be curt."

"There will be when they catch us because _you_ couldn't possibly stop talking about yourself for _two minutes_."

He glared at me through the darkness. "I was talking about _us_, and by talking I mean discussing escape plans out loud. If that's a problem then I guess I'll just leave you to come up with a genius plan that'll beat mine all on your own, because you're so _clever_, and all…"

"Shhh," I hissed, flapping my hand in front of his face and ducking back under the workbench in my granddad's broom shed, hiding myself from the view of anybody standing outside the frosted window.

A second later my parents and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny appeared in my line of vision, on the opposite side of the frosted glass. I pressed myself further under the narrow workbench in case they were to look through the glass and into the shed.

After an agonising minute, they disappeared again.

I slapped Scorpius round the back of the head.

"Ouch!" He glared at me pointedly through the gloom. "What was that for?"

"For getting us into this situation, maybe!"

"Hey, _you_ jumped _me_!" He complained. Well, _'complained'_ was not an accurate verb, considering he didn't look sorry at all that I had jumped him.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled after a moment. "I just… I hadn't seen you all summer and I was surprised when you walked through the door looking all handsome and tanned and-"

"Rose, Rose," He smirked. "Relax. I'm not questioning _why_ you jumped me - after all, I _am_ a catch - I'm just sorry you did it in your living room in front of your family."

I winced at the memory of the moment I'd realised my family were staring at me whilst I kissed Scorpius Malfoy. "Erm, yeah, me too."

"I feel a bit bad for your mum too," He continued, grinning. "Her and Ginny are probably going crazy trying to calm your dad and Harry down."

I studied his face for a second, then titled my head and glared at him, narrowing my eyes. "You're _enjoying _this, aren't you?"

"Of course," He smirked at my disbelieving expression.

"Well you won't be when Ron Weasley - The Auror - finds you," I pointed out in an effort to dampen his mood.

"Hey," He raised his hands in mock-surrender. "This time it actually _wasn't_ my fault."

"For once," I snorted.

He shot me a pretend glare. "Right, well seeing as we can't very well stay here the entire night…"

"Hey, I like camping, maybe it'll be fun," I tried to persuade him.

He tilted his head at me and narrowed his eyes. "I love you, Rose, but you're not exactly thinking practically, are you?"

"You what?" I snapped my head around immediately and stared at him in the semi-darkness. I wasn't going to question _those _choice of words subtly.

"I…" His eyes widened in panic, all hint of his suave smoothness disappearing to be replaced by his awkward geeky personality. "Oh Merlin, pretend I didn't say that…"

"Oh no," I shuffled closer to him and closed my fingers around his wrists to stop him from moving away. "No way are you getting out of that."

"Look, I'm not going to deny it, but I know it's too soon, so just… we can pretend I didn't just say 'I love you' for the first time in your granddads broom shed whilst hiding from your murderous relatives."

"No, Scor - don't." I almost cut off his words.

"Don't… what?" He looked alarmed, and confused.

"Don't pretend - Merlin that would be ridiculous. One step forward and two steps back, really. I love you too," I told him determinedly.

"You do?" And there was the geekiness, appearing in the form of a lazy grin.

I grinned back at him, nodded once, and then he pulled me the short distance to him to wrap his arms protectively around me and press his lips to mine.

Just as my hands moved into his hair, the shed door burst open and an out of breath Al stood hunched over in the doorway, trying desperately to catch his breath.

Scorpius tutted in annoyance at being interrupted. I ignored him.

"Where are they?" I asked my cousin as I shot to my feet in alarm.

Al held up a finger, "Ran… kitchen…"

"You ran from the kitchen?" I clarified. Al nodded.

"Man, you are so unfit," Scorpius chuckled as a side. Al managed to shoot him a deadly glare.

"Where are they, Al?" I repeated, cutting across what could become a dangerously off-topic argument.

"They-"

"Here," I heard the dangerously monotone voice of my father, and then he stepped into the doorway, followed by a rather bored looking Uncle Harry. I guess the amusement at watching my dad go mental had probably worn off by now.

Scorpius' hand squeezed mine so hard and he looked so pale that I thought he might faint.

"Al," Harry patted his second right hand man on the shoulder reassuringly, "You might want to give us a moment."

Al nodded, made to leave, then turned back and asked his father in a jokingly flat tone, "Should I get a shovel?"

"That would be best," My uncle nodded his head, mock-seriously.

"Get two," My dad joined in, but his joking was a little more serious. Not that he'd actually kill us, obviously, but his eyes were looking rather angry.

Al took one look at him and legged it out of the shed, "Later!"

"Now, _Scorpius_…" My dad started, reaching out to pat him patronisingly on the shoulder as he pulled him in to place his arm over his shoulders. It would have been an affectionate gesture, had I not already known it was really to stop him from running or apparating.

There was a pause, then Uncle Harry turned and called towards his retreating son, "Hey, Al, wait up!"

And then we were alone.

"Traitors!" I stepped towards the door and yelled after my uncle and cousin. In a gesture eerily similar, they both shrugged as they disappeared through the back door of the Burrow.

I spun back to face the scene in front of me.

Scorpius looked like he was going to be kicked off the Quidditch team, or have his Head Boy status revoked. My dad looked immensely pleased with the reaction he was getting.

"Take a seat," My dad prompted, gesturing towards a couple of upturned buckets. Scorpius said nothing but sat down. "You too, Rosie."

"Dad, I really don't think-"

"Now, Rose," He shot me a warning look. It was scarier than my mother. I sat down.

"Mr Weasley, if I could-" Scorpius tried, leaning forward slightly, wringing his hands in anxiousness.

"Here's how this is going to work," My dad interrupted. "I'm going to speak, then you can have your say. Okay?"

"Okay," My _not-so-secret-anymore_ boyfriend agreed quickly.

"I was having a good day, my family were home for Christmas and I love my daughter very much," My dad began. Scorpius gulped. "Then, I enter my living room to find _you_ with your hands on her. I don't appreciate being lied to, Scorpius."

"No, sir."

"I'm still talking," My dad glared at him. I knew Scorpius' expression - he was beginning to think he'd never be able to redeem himself in my dads eyes. I took his hand in mine, even though it earned me a glare from my father.

"It wasn't him, dad," I spoke up. "It was me. I kissed him, and, yeah, it was stupid to do it in front of everyone, but the point is, he just got attacked, and responded like any guy would. Are you telling me that you never got jumped when you were a teenager and just went along with it?"

He eyes glazed over for a moment, in a way which told me he was thinking about my mum, then he shook himself free of the thought.

"Exactly," I continued. "You like Scorpius, you like me, and you damn well aren't a hypocrite, are you? So there's really no problem here. It's not like he's taking advantage of me."

"That's…" My dad looked a little fazed by that. "It's not that, Rose. I'm fine with you two - Merlin knows we _all_ knew before you both did… It's… you lied to me, Scorpius."

My eyebrows creased in confusion, but nether of them were looking at me anymore, they were staring at each other, Scorpius regretfully.

"I'm sorry, Mr Weasley," He mumbled.

I was now really confused. It seemed _Scorpius_ knew what was going on.

_I've missed something here, haven't I?_

"And I accept that, Scorpius, but it doesn't change it. I specifically asked you if you were… non-platonic with Rose, and you told me that you were nothing more than friends-"

"Best friends," we both corrected him at the same time. We shared a grin for a moment at the reflex, then my dad interrupted the moment.

"So you see why I'm a little disappointed in you at the moment?"

"I do, sir, I really do," Scorpius mumbled. "But it was the truth at the time. We weren't together then, I swear. When Hugo-"

"_Hugo?_" I exclaimed. _Oh no, he was _nosey_._

"-asked if I was… in that type of relationship with her, and holding hands and doing intimate stuff, I wasn't then, I swear. And I didn't exactly think you'd appreciate me seeking you out to tell you."

I slapped Scorpius round the back of the head.

"You idiot."

"Ouch," He complained, now turning to me. "What was that for?"

"You just told my dad we were having sex, you toss pot."

"_Oh_…" He spun back to face my dad, who hadn't moved for the last minute. "I didn't meant that, I… just pretend I didn't say that."

"It's not your night, is it?" I sighed, squeezing his hand in reassurance that everything would probably be fine once my dad exploded.

"It really isn't," He grimaced. "First I blurt out that I love you, then-"

"You _what_?" My dad had apparently found his voice at that. "You _what?"_

"Oh, S-_Snorkack_," Scorpius hung his head, covering his face in his hands. "I am a toss pot."

I shook my head, rubbing his back soothingly. "Never mind…"

"You _love_ my daughter?" My dad stood up, then sat back down again, then stood up. "You're eighteen!"

Scorpius' head snapped up. "So? I've known her for seven years, we've been best friends for five. Some people don't even spend that long together before they get married."

"You are _not_ getting married!" My dad exploded, stopping in his pacing to point a menacing finger at him.

"Oh, no, sir, I didn't-"

"Don't, Scor," I snapped. "We can do whatever the hell we like. You don't have to agree to everything he says."

Scorpius opened his mouth to reply, but my dad beat him to it. "Rose Molly Weasley, you are _not_ marrying _anybody_ until you are at _least_ forty."

"Dad," I complained. "That's ridiculous. You got married when you were only a year older than we are now. And look at you and mum, still stupidly in love."

"Well…" He faltered. _I wasn't Hermione Granger's daughter for nothing - I had logical arguments on my side._

"And Scorpius is a good guy, you _know_ that. You went fishing with Hugo last month, remember? We were dating then, and you still liked him."

My dad fixed Scorpius with a half-hearted glare. "You were dating my daughter and you didn't think of bringing it up in the four days were went fishing?"

"I… the opportunity never came up…" Scorpius tried.

"How about when Hugo went to collect firewood and I turned to you and asked, "_Hey Scorpius, anything new with you? Got a girlfriend_?" and you said, "_No, nothing_."?"

"Erm, yeah, I suppose then would have been a good moment," My boyfriend agreed sheepishly.

"So why didn't you tell me?" He asked. And it wasn't an unusual thing - they were quite close, Scorpius and my dad. Like, really good mates. They even owled each other independently of me or Hugo. It was a little weird to start with.

"I figured that the woods would be an easy place to hide my body," He told him. "I didn't want to risk it."

My dad finally laughed.

He slapped Scorpius on the back. "You're a good kid, Scor. Just don't _ever_ talk to me about my daughters sex life, and we'll be fine."

"Got it."

"Great."

"So…" I spoke up, reminding them both that I was there. "Can we go now?"

My dad sighed. "Yes, but I expect you to remain celibate until you're at least forty."

"Got it," Scorpius repeated, and then I grabbed his hand and hurried to the shed door, calling a quick goodbye to my dad.

We both started laughing as soon as we ducked into the narrow passage hidden between the shed and house.

"Shh," He whispered, trying to stop me from being noisy by placing his hand over my mouth as my dad walked out of the shed and into the house.

"That wasn't awkward at all," I sighed, trying to suppress a laugh..

He wrapped his arms around me and smirked. "At least we don't have to sleep in the greenhouse tonight."

"And you're still alive," I added helpfully.

"And I'm still alive," He agreed, nodding. "As long as we remain celibate, anyway."

"As long as my dad _thinks _we're celibate," I reminded him.

"Good point," he smirked.

**It was a bit of a different Rose/Scorpius, and more of a romantic relationship, but there's still friendship ones coming up, I promise. I'm trying to at least alternate them now, if I can.**

**Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to review, if you can? :D**


	9. Damn, that was funny!

**Thank you all for the amazing feedback from the last chapter! I love writing these! The ScoRose friendship is just so fun to write. This one was ****prompted by loads of you, so I figured I best get round to it! :D So thank you: hppenguin0023, tinkerbelle0603, LoveMusic98, alex4879.**

**I hope you all like it!  
><strong>

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><p><strong>A friend helps you up when you fall,<strong>

**A best friend laughs, helps you up and pushes you over again, saying, "Damn, that was funny."**

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><p>"Seriously, Rose, if you had any more books you'd actually have to be considered a mobile library."<p>

I rolled my eyes, but ignored my best friend, my eyes glued to the black words neatly printed on the page in front of me.

He didn't persist, until some minutes later, when I'd turned the page twice already.

Coming from Scorpius, that was patience.

"Do you think that I could balance them on my head all the way to the 'J' section and back?" He asked excitedly, and I heard him attempt to shuffle out of his seat from beside me.

"You even try and I will hex you into next week," I grumbled, quill never faltering across my parchment during the threat.

Scorpius faltered, then slumped back into his seat. "You're mean."

"You're annoying."

"This is boring."

"So is listening to you complain," I retorted quietly, flicking to page 394 as I spoke. "But for some reason, I'm still friends with you."

He didn't reply until I'd written another sentence and a half of my essay. "You _are_ mean today."

"My head hurts."

"Is it all that information you've got stored in there?" He teased, leaning his body dangerously towards mine so that he could gently tap on the side of my temple as I leaned over the desk.

_Don't panic. It's just Scorpius. He just your best friend._

_He's just absolutely gorgeous._

_Shhhh, Rose._

I actually pealed my eyes away from my work to show him that I was rolling my eyes this time. "Some how, I think not, Scor."

"I tell you, Rosie Posie," He sighed contently, leaning back and resting his socked feet on the desk dangerously close to my essay, "studying isn't good for you. It'll fill your mind up with useless stuff, and you'll explode before you're thirty."

"I don't think that's how it works, Scorpius," I mumbled, trying to hide my amusement.

"Care to bet on that?"

"What's the point in that?" I laughed, glancing up at him for a second, an amused grin on my face. "If you win, I'll have died of Death by Studying, and if I win… well, I'll be thirty and would have probably forgotten this conversation."

"Forgotten this conversation?" He exclaimed in mock-horror, clutching his heart and trying not to smirk at me in his dramatics. "Why, Rose, I'd hope you'd remember all our wonderful conversations, even when you're old and have twenty cats."

I glared at him, abruptly shutting the huge hardback book I had been using with a bang. I was pleased to see him flinch a little at the noise.

"Insinuate I'm going to be an old maid with cats again and I will personally ensure you don't have children."

I had to try hard not to smile, but I managed it.

"Now now, Rosie," He teased, following me as I got to my feet, collected up the five books I was finished with in my arms and headed towards the 'L' section of the Hogwarts library, "I'm your best friend. You wouldn't do that, would you?"

I nodded my head as I shifted the books in my hands. _They were heavy._ "Mm hmm, I would."

"But you wouldn't ever get to be a god-mother to my wonderful children…" He pointed out.

I faltered a little at that - I'd made him promise me that position ever since Third Year - but continued the joke anyway. "Well, it's just as well _Scorpy_. I'd feel sorry for anyone who procreated with you."

"Ouch," He complained. "Harsh."

I smirked at him, glancing over my shoulder to check my harsh teasing hadn't actually offended him too much, just as the heavy book on the top of my pile shifted and broke free from the bundle in my arms. I stepped right into it, and tripped over the other four books, which went flying in front of me.

I muttered a string of unladylike swear words just as I spun from my position on the floor, books strewn around me, to glance up at Scorpius.

He was standing directly in front of me, arms folded across his chest in a triumphant manner, smirking and trying to stop laughing. "Karma," He managed to stifle through his laughter.

I was fairly sure I hadn't landed gracefully. In fact, I was fairly sure I'd flailed about in the air like a fish out of water.

"Shut up," I complained, "and help me up."

He sighed but, surprisingly, reached out to take my hand. As soon as I was half up, balancing precariously by his hold alone, he smirked, and I knew why he had helped me without complaining. I knew what was coming.

"Scor-" I half warned.

But he'd already let me go.

I fell back onto the dusty carpet again, unceremoniously landing hard on my bum. "What was that for?"

"Amusement," He grinned.

"Well I didn't find it funny!" I complained, even though my lips itched to twitch into a smile. I had to admit, if I'd done it to him, I would have found it pretty damn funny too.

"Of course _you_ didn't," He grinned, stepping forwards again to actually help me up this time. "It was for _my_ amusement, not yours."

"Oh, so glad to be of service," I muttered back dryly as I rose to get back on my feet again.

"Glad to hear it," He replied rather mysteriously and, before I could fully sort out my balance, he grasped my upper arms and pushed me back down again.

I landed on the edge of one of the books, my ankle hitting the floor hard, catching my fall by blindly placing my hands out under me.

"_Ouch!_ Scorpius!" I snapped, this time not amused.

"Damn, that was funny!" He continued to laugh at me.

"You _idiot_!" I leaned forwards to clutch my right ankle with my thumb and index finger. "Help. Me. Up."

"Oh no," He took a step backwards. "I'm not sure I appreciate your teasing, Rose Weasley."

"Scor," I scoffed. "You called me a '_squib in disguise' _last week! And yesterday you suggested I had man arms, a moustache, and would end up in the circus on account of my overly large _front teeth_!"

The bastard's lips twitched as if he wanted to laugh. "So?"

"So help me up!" I snapped again.

"You know," He sighed, "You could have just got up by now on your own. Independence and all, Rosie Pie."

"I think I've hurt my ankle," I told him sheepishly, rubbing the side of my ankle with my hand and trying to gently twist it in circles. A sharp twinge shot up my leg, and my anger flared a little in reaction to the pain. "Ouch, yep, that's not good. You happy now?" I snapped again, flicking my icy gaze up at him.

Scorpius' amusement suddenly vanished, concern and guilt flooding his face. "Seriously?"

"Yes, _seriously!"_

"Oh, Merlin, Rose, I'm sorry! I'll take you to the Hospital Wing right now. Madam Pomfrey will have it good as new in no time, I promise."

"I'm fine, Scorpius," I sighed tersely, and even I could hear the resentment in my voice. He wasn't my favourite person right at that moment.

Before he could comment, Lily came running over. "Oh my Merlin, Rose! Are you okay? What happened? Let me… Oh gosh, does it hurt?"

She readjusted her bag over her shoulder and helped me up off the floor.

"Don't worry, Lils," I told her as she fussed over me. "I'll head to the Hospital Wing and get it looked at."

"Does it hut?"

"Yeah, like hell," I breathed through the pain as I put weight on it. "I think it's sprained."

"And quite bad by the looks of it," She fussed again. "I'll help you up there if you want?"

Scorpius hung back, a guilty look plastered across his face.

I sighed, my anger deflating as I exhaled. "That's alright, Scor was just going to take me."

I glanced up at him, and he looked surprised. The expression was quickly replaced by a smile as he readily took Lily's position beside me, helping to take my weight off my ankle.

"Sorry, Rose," He bit his lip nervously.

I sighed again, "I forgive you, Scor. Just…" I creased my eyebrows and stared at a spot over his shoulder. "Oh Merlin, look at that!"

I pointed to where I was looking. Him and Lily spun to see it, evidently intrigued, but there was nothing there. As Scorpius spun back to face me, and question on his lips, I pushed my arms out in front of me and shoved him over.

He landed gracelessly too, and glared up at me through his fringe, sprawled out on the floor. Lily began laughing. Scorpius got to his feet, grumbling childishly.

"That was not funny."

"Yes, it was," I grinned. "At least a little."

"Rose…"

"Just a teensy bit? Admit it!" I grinned. My flirty smile must have been too much for him, because he admitted defeat and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, maybe a little," He laughed. "But faking a sprained ankle just to get me back?" He shook his head in mock-disappointment. "That's low."

He gave me a playful shove and I had to step to the right to balance myself.

"Actually," I winced as my foot hit the floor. "My ankle really does hurt. Do you think…?"

"Oh, oops, sorry," He winced sheepishly and helped me towards the Hospital Wing.

When we got there, Madame Pomfrey took one look at us, and sighed.

"Not _again_. When will you two ever learn?"

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><p><strong>I hope you all liked it! Thank you for reading. I'd love a review?<strong>

**Also, Merry Christmas to you all!  
><strong>


	10. Detention Buddies

**Hey everyonnnnnne! :) Thank you all for reading these! I'm glad you're liking them! I'm planning a multi-chapter ScoRose soon, suggested by the amazing tiiinam, but Merlin knows when I actually get it up! And _then_ when I get up the planned sequel to Help Me, Please. Plus, Primeval fics keep distracting me - so I'm very sorry for that! Anywho, I will be continuing this story, just updates might be every couple of weeks or something, or the chapters will be shorter scenes, like this one. So sorry, and thank you all for reading and supporting this! You're all truly brilliant.**

**I hope you like this chapter - I only checked it over like a hundred times, as opposed to my usual billion, so I hope it's still okay. This one was prompted by That . Quirky . Laura, so thank you for that! :)**

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><p><strong>A friend waits for you after school if you get detention,<strong>

**A best friend will get themselves in trouble just to keep you company.  
><strong>

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><p>"So… what? I'm just supposed to sit around and wait for you and get to the party when it finishes?" Al grumbled across the table to me.<p>

I spared him a glance, rolling my eyes, then turned back to my work. "I'm not purposely ignoring you Al. I have detention."

"On the night of the biggest party of the year!" He hissed back, his eyes flicking across the quiet Ancient Runes classroom towards the teacher at the front of the class.

"Then go without me," I snapped, coughing to cover up the noise of our conversation.

"But…" He looked completely confused. "But I can't go on my _own_."

"Why not?" I sighed, more sympathetic now. Al thrived in social situations, so long as he knew at least one person there. He needed a wing man.

"Because it's just sad."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"Then go with Lily," I suggested, turning the page of my book. Al's was still closed in front of him, even though we'd be told to get on with our work more than fifteen minutes ago. Honestly, if he failed his exams, I think I'd know why.

"I can't go with my _sister_!" He looked horrified. I tried my hardest not to laugh. "Besides, her friends will drive me crazy."

"Her friends are our cousins."

"Exactly!"

I grinned at him then, looking up to catch his eye. "Stop complaining Al. I have to sit in _three hours_ of Astronomy detention because _somebody_ copied my work and I have to redo it all."

"Come on, it'll take you one hour, an hour and a half tops, to do that work."

"I've still got to sit there for three. Just me and bloody Professor Farrow," I reminded him. "It'll be boring as hell."

Before Al had the chance to respond, Scorpius interrupted, having quietly been sitting on our table doing his last-minute homework for the next class we had, Herbology.

"Do you guys mind? Some of us actually want to _pass_ our NEWTs."

We both glared at him.

"Some of us want to go to a party," Al retorted.

"Some of us don't care, Al," I snapped, catching Scorpius' agreeing nod from the corner of my eye.

"Fine," He huffed, giving up entirely and crossing his arms across his chest, sulking back into his seat. "I'll see if Alice wants to go with me."

"_Oooh_," Scorpius teased Al under his breath, crossing out a word on his parchment. I smirked, and we exchanged a knowing look out of the corner of our eyes. Al noticed, and was not pleased with the teasing.

"Shut up, Scorpius," He threatened.

Scorpius and I just exchanged another grin.

"You better watch out, Scor," I joked, trying not to laugh, lest I pushed Al too far. "He's warning you."

"He is?" Scor continued the teasing.

I nodded, mock-gravely. "He is. He used your first name and everything."

"Merlin, he must be serious."

"I guess he is."

"He must really like Alice," Scorpius teased again. I had to try not to laugh at how red Al had gone, from annoyance and embarrassment.

"I'd say," I continued.

"Shut _up_, you two!" Al finally snapped, earning himself a glare from Professor Farrow. Scorpius and I kept our heads down so it looked like we were doing work. "Merlin, you're so _irritating_ when you're together! I wish I'd never introduced you, then maybe you wouldn't have become friends."

"Ouch," I said, exchanging another glance with Scorpius.

"Harsh," Scorpius continued the sentence. "We were only-"

"-Joking," I finished. "Gees, Al. You _are_ touchy about Alice."

Scorpius scoffed, trying not to laugh. "Good choice of words, Rose."

"Thank you," I grinned at him, tearing my gaze away from Al to look at my gorgeous best friend.

_Best friend, Rose. Take out the 'gorgeous'._

_But it's true._

_It's Scorpius._

"It was completely unintentional as well," I continued.

"I'm impressed," He teased, now grinning at me.

We smiled at each other devilishly for a moment. Then Al ruined it.

"When you two have finished _flirting_," He snapped, "You might want to realise that Professor Farrow is looking this way."

We both blushed a little, having been caught out a little. We flirted a lot, but we never _said_ it - that was just dangerous territory.

"Maybe it's because _you_ haven't opened your book yet, _Albus_," I snapped.

"Yeah," Scorpius agreed.

Al stared between us both. "Stop backing her up!" He snapped at Scorpius.

Scor shrugged.

Al gave up and finally opened his text book. I didn't have to look at the page to know it was the wrong one - he'd just opened it to a random number, three topics behind the one we were actually studying.

"I can't believe you're making me do some work," He complained.

I rolled my eyes. So did Scorpius.

"_I_ have detention _on my own_, later, Al, and you're complaining as if it's the end of the world for _you_! All you've got to do is go to a party."

"Fine," He huffed, suddenly getting an idea and sitting forward in his chair, leaning across the desk. "I'll stop complaining-"

"Not likely," I muttered dryly, but he ignored it.

"-if Scorpius comes with me."

Scorpius snapped his head up to stare at Al.

_He couldn't do that!_

"Hey," I complained. "Scorpius' is mine, get your own best friend, you loser."

"I introduced you! And you're in detention," Al reminded me. "Plus, maybe Scorpius would _like_ to have fun once in a while."

I glared daggers at my cousin. Then we both turned to look at Scorpius.

I thought he'd either be (a) mock-irritated that I'd claimed him like a prize (who is he kidding, he loves it really) or (b), annoyed that we were including him in our argument.

Surprisingly, he was neither - he looked completely bored.

"I can't go to the party, anyway, Al," He mumbled casually, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why not?" Al asked, confused.

"Because this is why not."

And then he got up, stood on his chair, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, turned pointedly to Professor Farrow, and shouted, "Expecto Patronum."

The shape of a silver Komodo Dragon, in mist form, bounded about the room, causing chaos. Students screamed in surprise, jumped back from their tables, starting shouting across the room at each other, and a few tried to take photos.

Professor Farrow was not amused.

He stood up from his chair, and shouted, "Scorpius Malfoy!"

"Yes, professor?"

"Get down from that table _right now."_

"Yes, Professor," He grinned at me as he did so.

"Detention, tonight," Farrow snapped at him, sitting back down behind his desk, righting the room of stray parchment that had been strewn across the floor as the students took their seats again, settling down. "That was an inappropriate disruption of my lesson. You can assist Miss Weasley with her star charting this evening… and Scorpius?"

"Yes, Professor?" He tried not to smile in front of the teacher, but failed.

"Try not to look so pleased about it," Farrow sighed, turning back to his marking.

Scorpius took his seat again, giving a sulking Al one glance, then turned and smirked at me.

"Am I the best friend ever, or what?" He grinned.

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading. If you have time I'd love a review? :)<strong>


	11. Scary Movies

**This one was taken from An Artists Account's profile - I wasn't snooping, I swear! Someone told me about them, so I checked them out. Lol. I hope you, and everybody else, likes it!**

**Also, the next chapter may be from Scorpius' POV, instead of Rose's (but I'll let you know) as per alicenotinwonderland's suggestion! Thank you! Just when I was starting to worry that Scor was coming off as too good for Rose, BAM- you awesome people come up with a great idea!**

**Also, this one is for those of you who wanted a little more romance. :)**

**EDIT: Sorry if you get a double email about this anybody, I just had to fix a couple of mistakes I made (silly me! :D)  
><strong>

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><p><strong>A friend will pick out a cute chick-flick to watch with you on a movie night,<strong>

**A best friend will pick out "The Ring" for movie night then scare you both in the process.**

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><p>The one thing I loved about the summer holidays was not the swimming, the endless hours of Quidditch, the ease with which I could stare at my best friends naked torso and drool unnoticed, or the lack of work.<p>

The one thing I _loved_ was movie nights.

Since Third Year all my cousins and I, and whichever of their friends were round at that time of the summer - because people were coming and going to The Burrow all summer - had begun the tradition of a movie night.

Lucy and I had started it off by watching Mean Girls in the living room when the adults had gone to Uncle Percy's who lived just on the other side of Ottery St. Catchpole. Lily, Roxanne and Victoire had soon joined us with popcorn, and even Fred (who claimed Roxanne had forced him into it, but she had done no such thing) sat with us.

Ever since then, every night of the summer - unless there was an unusual circumstance, like the time my dad accidentally cut off his finger and we had to rush him to A&E, or when we all went to see the opera (Uncle Harry slept practically the whole way through it, when he wasn't rolling his eyes at it).

It was nice - we got to spend some time together, curled up on the sofas, or the soft rug on the floor, or the window seat, or the armchairs, by the fire. We got to hang out and tease each other and catch up.

Today was the middle of summer - July the 19th - and the majority of us had spent it learning to surf on the lake at the bottom of the field adjacent to The Burrow. Scorpius had gone surfing in Australia over the Christmas Break (traditional, I know) and we'd all been dying to learn since then.

Needless to say, I was terrible.

At first.

I fell off constantly, and kept catching my feet on the board. But when Scorpius had gone inside to get some rest from the sun and write to his mum (he was such a mummy's boy), Dominique had taught me in simpler words, and it suddenly clicked.

She was the only one who had noticed, so when Scorpius came back I pretended I was just as hopeless as ever.

Cue two hours of having him bare-chested standing with his arms around me.

It was a good afternoon.

I shouldn't indulge myself in any sort of feelings for my best friend, I know, I know. But, I couldn't help it. I was never really one for self-control.

The only reason I didn't jump him was because my family were there, and because he was as clueless as anything. He didn't have a _clue_ that I liked him, and I wasn't going to give him a heart attack telling him, was I?

Besides, it was a recent development. Since Christmas. That's when it had hit me like a tonne of bricks, and then everything had spiralled out of control since then.

So I just… tricked him a little.

I grinned to myself, and Dom, who was the only other person in our Nana's kitchen, on popcorn duty with me tonight, tutted and rolled her eyes at me.

I glared at her.

"You're thinking about him again," She told me bluntly.

"So?" I muttered back defensively.

"So you shouldn't," She pointed out. "Unless you plan to _do_ something about it."

She tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and gave me a nod, reinforcing her point. I rolled my eyes.

"If you stop drooling after Seamus, I'll stop thinking about… _him_," I proposed, knowing she wouldn't agree.

She surveyed me for ten seconds, her expression completely blank. Then she sighed, grinned, and winked at me. "Touche."

"Thank you," I smirked as the microwave beeped.

We made our way into the living room, where sleeping bags, duvets, pillows, cushions, blankets, and more were strewn across the room around the 60 inch TV which we'd bought for Granddad Arthur last Christmas.

"What are we watching?" I asked as Fred, Al, James and Scorpius suddenly jumped out from behind the pillars either side of us. I jumped and let out a little shriek, embarrassingly, but Dom just remained motionless, completely unfazed, and rolled her eyes.

"Children," She muttered under her breath.

I giggled as Al and James bundled her onto the sofa, Lily making a save for the popcorn at the last minute, and Scorpius came to stand beside me. He stole a handful of popcorn out of the bowl I was carrying.

I gave him a disapproving look, but couldn't hold it for long before I smiled.

"Well, _I_ wanted to watch _The Proposal_-" Lucy started.

"Boring!" Louis grimaced, shooting her a horrified look.

"-But it was the guys' turn to pick a film as we watched _Avatar_ yesterday," Lucy finished. Roxanne and Fred high-fived like the twins they were, nodding in approval and achievement. _SciFi nerds through and through, those two._

"So we let Scorpius pick," James grinned at me evilly. "Because he hasn't chosen one yet."

I was glad that it was him and not James, because James chose the worst films. Ever had to sit through_ The Human Centipede_? Seriously, don't even google it. It's terrible. I think I almost threw up a couple of times. Nobody touched the popcorn that day.

I turned to my cheeky best friend, who was now bouncing up and down like a child on a sugar rush. I rolled my eyes as I plonked myself in the centre of the duvets on the floor, my back against the sofa. "Oh Merlin, do I even want to know what you picked?"

He grinned, "It's good."

"Is it?" I tried not to smirk as he landed on his knees beside me, almost toppling into me. "Is it _really_, Scorpius?"

He nodded eagerly. "The Ring."

"What, are you about to propose or something?" I joked.

He rolled his eyes, then moved to sit beside me, pulling a blanket across us as Lucy sat to his left and Fred sat to my right, wedging us in.

"It's a great film, you'll love it," He promised.

I didn't.

I wasn't anti-horror films as such, I just didn't really like this one.

Well, until about half-way through.

Here's something I forgot to mention: Scorpius and I like horror films, we're just hiders. You know, those people who hide behind a pillow, or their hand, or somebody else? Yep, that's us. Both of us.

I tease him about it _a lot_. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.

Because by the time we reached the mid-way point, he was snuggled up next to me, one arm over my shoulder, face half buried in the top of my head. I was peaking out from my position snuggled against his chest every now and then, but, to be honest, I hadn't been focusing on the film for a long time.

This main character would probably die - come on, she was a big name in a horror film; like Sarah Michelle Gellar in _The Grudge_ or Rumer Willis in _Sorority__ Row_, they usually died, or had something terrible happen to them at least - so I didn't really mind.

By the end though, Scorpius and I were engrossed along with the others, but we were still tangled up together in case something made us jump. Which it did. A lot.

Fred, Roxanne, Alice Longbottom and Louis were shouters - calling irritated comments to the characters, exclaiming about stuff that was on screen, etc… So they didn't even notice us.

The others did though.

"Oh, _Merlin_, that was a good film!" Roxanne commented as soon as the credits started rolling. The others shuffled about, working movement back into their limbs now that they could.

Scorpius tried to look more macho, but failed.

We didn't move.

"I actually think I might never sleep again," I mumbled from his chest.

They laughed.

"That's okay," Roxanne replied in a teasing voice.

"I'm sure Scorpius will keep you company," Fred finished for her, making all my cousins laugh.

"Shut up," Scorpius and I snapped at the same time. Which was odd: I knew why _I_ was touchy about that type of thing, but why was _he_?

_Unless… he liked me?_

_No. That's absurd._

_Is it?_

_Yes!_

"You're just jealous that I have a beautiful girl in my arms whilst _you_ haven't made a move on Alice yet," Scorpius pointed out, directing his words to Fred.

Fred gaped at him whilst Alice blushed. Roxanne laughed the loudest out of us all.

_Or maybe it wasn't absurd… he did just call me beautiful, right?_

"I'm going to get a drink," Lucy stood up meekly. "Sarah, Lily, James… come with me?"

James shook his head in disbelief at her. "Chicken."

"I don't know what _you're_ saying, James," Lily warned her brother as the four of them left the room. "Cocky, pretty, loud-mouthed? If this was a horror film, you'll be the first to go."

I giggled at that, feeling Scorpius' chest shake with laughter too, as they disappeared into the kitchen.

Roxanne turned to Al, Fred and Louis. "Want to go scare the life out of Hugo and Molly? They just went upstairs to use the loo."

Grinning evilly, they all bolted up the stairs, trying not to laugh.

Dom, Alice, Scorpius and I shared an eye roll.

"I'm so glad I'm not Hugo or Molly," I mumbled.

"When you _do_ manage to detach yourself from Scorpius," Dom warned, "They'll definitely get you."

"Then we'll just… become conjoined twins," I joked.

Dom smirked at me as I sat up a little, unnerved by her close observation. Scorpius grinned at me, completely clueless to Dom's suggestive lift of her eyebrow.

"Do you think we'd actually survive as conjoined twins?" He asked interestingly.

I gave him an _'are-you-seriously-asking-me-this?'_ smirk, then shrugged. "We could hack it."

"Brilliant," He agreed with a grin.

"How would you get round school?" Alice asked curiously. "You've got different timetables."

"McGonagall would have to switch them," I replied easily. "What else could she do…"

"What about Christmas holidays, or Easter?"

I exchanged a look with Scorpius.

"Typical married couple scenario," He replied. "We'd spend one here, and one with my parents."

We grinned. "We could totally be conjoined twins," I grinned.

Then Dom had to ruin it.

"What about taking a shower?"

I blushed a crimson red, but it was nothing compared to after Scorpius made his next comment, smirking like an idiot.

"Now _that_ would be fun."

"Okaaaaay," Alice stood up abruptly. "I'm going to go find Fred."

Before Dom could tease her, there was a loud shriek from upstairs, followed by Molly's _"I'm going to murder you in your sleep!"_ and Hugo shouting _"Get back here, you tosspots!"_

Dom got to her feet as I tried to stop myself from blushing under Scorpius' intense smirk.

"I think it just got about ten degrees hotter in here, so I'm going to make Lucy jump out of her skin."

And then she disappeared, leaving Scorpius and I alone.

I swallowed, and tried not to make the situation more awkward.

"So…"

"Conjoined twins would definitely not work," He pointed out.

"Yep."

"Cause then we'd be related."

"R…right," I glanced up at him, thoroughly confused. "That's wasn't _exactly_ what I meant, Scorp, but, y'know…"

He rolled his eyes at me. "You're so infuriating sometimes, Rose."

Again, another apparent change in topic.

"Eh?"

He sighed, and then, in one quick movement, placed his hands either side of my face and kissed me abruptly. Not sweet or gentle or anything, just insistent and emotional.

"Oh," I breathed out when he pulled away, but kept my eyes closed, savouring the moment. "_Oh."_

"Please don't tell me I made the wrong decision," he gulped, and I finally opened my eyes.

"No," I hurried to tell him. "No… definitely not."

I couldn't help but lick my bottom lip, which caused him to jump me again.

We were becoming more demanding and fiery with our kisses when Dom interrupted us, Al, Fred, Hugo, Alice and Molly behind her.

"Finally!" She sighed, plonking herself down on the armchair.

Scorpius turned back to me as the others just stared at us, rooted to the spot. "I probably should have picked my moment better."

I nodded, agreeing. "Probably."

"I blame you," He teased.

"Me?" I exclaimed in mock-outrage.

"Yes, _you_. Wearing that stupid bikini and pretending you couldn't surf so I would teach you one-to-one all day."

I gaped at him. "How did you know about that?"

"Al's room has a window, Rose," He laughed.

"Ah…"

"Plus," He shot me a winning charm smile. "I'm your best friend - I can read you like a book. You should have jumped me on Valentine's Day, you know."

I just gawped at him some more.

_How did he know about that?_

_Guess I hadn't been nearly as stealthy and secretive as I'd thought.  
><em>

Oh well, you never really can be when it comes to best friends - they always know what you're thinking.

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><p><strong>Firstly, I got to write about movies (which I love!), SciFi (which I love!), stick in a few subtle Castle references (which I love!), and make FredRoxanne twins. I liked writing this chapter! :D I put Alice with Fred because... well, becuase I thought it would be interesting. Hope you diehard Alice/Al shippers don't mind terribly for the one chapter - maybe there's an Al/Alice/Fred love-triangle...**

**Please review, you wonderful people! Review, tell me what you thought about this chapter, and what your favourite movie is! :D (Mine's The Mummy (1999, Brendan Fraser, baby!) or It's A Wonderful Life). :D  
><strong>


	12. Tears

**Thanks for still reading you guys, glad you're still liking these, I hope anyways. Here's the next chapter.  
><strong>

**I wanted to write something with a bit more emotion to it, so this is the prompt I chose. Plus, I'm not really feeling a fic outside of Hogwarts at the moment, and this one let me set it easily at Hogwarts. Hope you like it. ****:D**

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><p><strong>Prompted by mixed suggestions from Purple-Tube-Flowers and heather blaze, and something similar from I Can Hear the Sea:<strong>

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><p><strong>A friend will never see you cry,<strong>

**A best friend will hold you when you break down into tears.**

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><p>Hogwarts terms always ended on the Friday - logical, I know, but you'd be surprised how many muggle schools I'd seen ending on a Tuesday or a Thursday, and once I swear the local muggle Secondary near where my parents lived ended its term on a Monday. Completely pointless.<p>

Anyway, Hogwarts liked to be logical, so we always ended term on the Friday and got the Hogwarts Express home on the Saturday. The only exception was the last day of summer term, the last day of the year, where we'd end on Friday and get the train home on the Sunday.

You'd think we'd complain about having to stay at school an extra day, but actually, it gave most of us the time to pack (unless you were Rose or Louis, and happened to pack two weeks in advance), rather than the usual Saturday morning dash.

Nobody really packed on Friday night - that was the end of term party. Every year the Seventh Years would host it up at the Shrieking Shack. The teachers must know it happens - after all, most of them had attended Hogwarts themselves, and it was a long tradition - but they never mentioned it.

It was a part of Hogwarts tradition, and we liked tradition here.

So on Saturday night, I was actually all packed and ready to leave in the morning. I waltzed into the Gryffindor Common Room looking for Rose (read: looking for Rose so that I could brag about it).

Albus, Lily and Dominique were teasing a rather glum looking Hugo about his new haircut (which actually suited him really well, according to some fifth year girls I'd overheard gossiping).

He sat slumped on the rug near the fire, trying to read his book.

Dom and Lily were sitting on the sofa, Dom plaiting Lily's hair, whilst Al sat at the desk playing Chess with himself, but still managing to find concentration to multitask and tease his cousin at the same time.

I collapsed into the armchair, glancing around the rest of the Common Room briefly, then thought I'd save Hugo by interrupting the others.

"Has anybody seen Rose?"

Hugo gave me a grateful grin, then shook his head and returned back to his book which was obviously engrossing him because when I'd walked into him earlier outside the Great Hall he'd been twenty pages into it - he was now 710.

I allowed myself a moment to take that in - those two were insane at reading. I swear Rose could read, without skimming, a whole page in less than five seconds.

Which brought me back to…

"I saw her at lunch," Dom mumbled, hair clips in her mouth as she focused on Lily's hair. "She was going to talk to McGonagall."

"About the Head Girl thing?" I asked, suddenly remembering. In my trunk-packing haze today, I hadn't see my best friend, and I'd completely lost track of the time.

I checked my watch. It was 4.30pm - Rose should have been back by now, should have already sought me out to brag about her achievement.

But she hadn't.

Which only meant one thing.

"Oh yeah," Al spared me a glance, before spinning his chess board round and staring at it intensely again. "I forgot that was today."

"I just lost track of the time," I admitted, suddenly anxious. "Do you think she's okay?"

"Why wouldn't she be?" Lily asked as she looked up from her magazine.

The others, apart from Hugo, all looked up at me at once. I tried to make a signal with my eyes - because I thought it was just that _darn_ obvious - but they weren't getting it.

_Bloody genius', this family_.

"Because," I started slowly, "she isn't here… she's probably hiding in her room… what does that tell you?"

"That she didn't get Head Girl?" Lily muttered offhandedly.

I gave her a perplexed look, which the others didn't seem to share. "Exactly!"

"No, we know that," Dom agreed, completely unfazed. In fact, none of them looked concerned. "We saw her a couple of hours ago when she came back - she said Holly got it."

I spluttered a couple of times, suddenly leaning forwards in my seat, "And you didn't tell me this? You didn't ask how she was? You didn't think she'd be upset?"

Dom rolled her eyes at me as Al said, "She seemed fine, Scor. Stop worrying."

"Yeah, you're worse than Hugo," Lily commented.

Hugo didn't spare us a glance. He probably hadn't even heard his name being mentioned. Best to just leave him when he got like this, and tell him what he missed a few days later when he resurfaced from his book.

"So… what? She just _looked_ fine to you lot, so you left her?"

Al glared at me, a little annoyed now. "We _asked_ her if she was okay, she said yes, then she said she was going to go finish packing and have a lie down."

I swore under my breath as I stood up abruptly. The nature of my reaction finally fazed them.

"What?" Dom asked, hair clips still in her mouth as she half focused on Lily's hair still.

"You guys don't know her like I do," I told them sincerely. "Rose is _not_ okay with this."

"She didn't even look upset," Dom protested. "Honestly, Scorpius, I think you're overreacting. Remember last year when she lost out on that Shield for School Liaison Student? She wanted it just as much as this, but she didn't care that she didn't get it. That's just Rose - she takes things as they come and doesn't fret over them."

I rolled my eyes. "Merlin, you guys are more stupid than Hugo looks-"

"Hey!"

Okay, so he heard _that_.

"-She cried for about three hours straight when she lost that Shield. And she cares _way_ more about getting Head Girl than that stupid award."

Lily put her magazine down and fixed me with a look which I like to call _'Ginny isn't amused'_. "She doesn't _cry_, Scorpius. Stop overreacting."

I just rolled my eyes, and pretended to air-strangle the lot of them.

"You guys are so _frustrating!_" I growled, then spun on my heels and sprinted up the stairs to the girls dormitories.

Now, I don't like to brag, but I'm three times national champion at the 100 metres (we do play sports other than Quidditch at Hogwarts, you know), and I'm pretty tall, so I managed to take the stairs almost three at a time.

As soon as I reached the top and made a grab for the railing, the steps below me snapped downwards and morphed into one slide.

I allowed myself a sly grin at that.

_Good try, McGonagall._

I hurried down the third corridor to my right and stopped at the second door on the left.

I knocked tentatively.

The sobbing I _knew_ I could hear through the wooden door stopped abruptly. Then she was unable to hold it for too long, and a sharp, loud cry escaped.

I knocked again.

"Rosie?" I called gently, leaning my forehead on the door. "Rosie, it's me. Open the door."

A sound of sniffing, sobbing and what I assumed was an attempt at talking, reached me, but she didn't come and open the door.

It wasn't locked, but I wanted to give her the chance to open it herself. I wanted to help her, but if she wanted to be left alone, I wasn't going to interrupt her solitude.

"Rosie?" I called again. "It's Scorpy."

I winced at the nickname, but _hey_, I'd used it. So sue me, nobody was around for it to be embarrassing.

There was the sound of some shuffling, then a pause.

Then the door handle twisted and it creaked open an inch.

Rose was wearing a long shirt and leggings, her hair was tied back in a ponytail, but most of her bangs and short layers had escaped and were chaotic as they framed her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, and there was a line of mascara trailing from one eye, a line of tears from the other.

"Oh, Rose…" I sighed gently, stepping forward to hug her.

She wrapped her hands around my waist so tightly I didn't think I'd be able to breath if she held on for too long, but I didn't complain.

"You used the nickname," She mumbled into my chest, her face hidden away from mine.

I stroked her hair. "You're upset," I said simply.

"But you hate it when I call you that when I'm sad," She mumbled back.

I guided her into the room, trying not to trip over her feet, or my own, and sat us both down on the bed.

She looked at me with such a pitiful look that I thought _I_ might start tearing up a little.

"No I don't," I smiled at her. "I don't mind. You can call me anything you like."

She gave me a half-hearted _'I don't believe you'_ look, but then bit her lip as another wave of emotion overtook her and she started crying again.

"Oh, shhh," I pulled her to me again and hugged her tightly. "It's okay, Rosie. You don't need Head Girl. Everybody knows just how amazing you are anyway. Who needs the title?"

"Holly Nunes does," She sobbed into my shoulder. I knew it was a mistake wearing a new shirt, but I didn't care right at that moment. She could cry into it as much as she liked.

"Well that's because she'd not as amazing as you are," I replied quickly. "She doesn't have the consistent grades, or the optimism, or the sense of humour that you have."

I felt my best friend bite her lip again, in an attempt to stop the tears. "You're… you're so nice to me."

Then she burst into another round of sobs.

"Rose," I stroked her hair again, trying not to smile at her craziness. "There's no need to cry over that, of course I'm nice to you - I'm your best friend."

"But… But I… I'm _mean_ to you," She breathed.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm your best friend," I repeated. "You're _allowed _to be mean to me."

She pulled back enough to look at me, but kept her hands intertwined with mine. "Even when I call you Scorpy?"

I grinned. "Even then."

"Okay," She sighed. "You can call me Tinchy then."

I grinned again. "I was going to anyway, but thank you."

She pretended to smack me on the arm, but I caught the smile on her tear-stained face.

"So how about we go and TP Holly's dorm room?" I suggested.

She laughed, and I saw her wipe the tears from her eyes, conflicted with the two emotions. "As tempting as that seems…"

"Or we could go get some ice-cream and doughnuts from the kitchen?" I suggested.

"That's probably a better use of our time," She conceded. "I'm still Prefect after all - I don't want to lose _all_ my credit."

"And you're the _best_ Prefect," I reminded her as I grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. "Now come on, let's clean up your face first."

I pulled her into the bathroom across the hall and rinsed a flannel to run over her face. As I wiped the tears away, she pulled her hair out of its messy bun and brushed it through with a comb.

"There," I smiled at my best friend. "Just as beautiful as always. Who needs Head Girl status, eh?"

She gave me a humble, embarrassed smile at the compliment, then surprised me by leaning forward and placing a kiss on my cheek.

"What was that for?" I asked when she pulled away, trying to not grin like an idiot.

"Thank you," She told me sincerely.

"Anytime," I smiled, and pulled her towards the doughnuts that were calling us.

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><p><strong>I hope you liked this. As always, I'd love a review? :D<strong>


	13. Boyfriend Threats

**Sorry about the delay in this, you guys! You've all been wonderful. Please thank dropsofpuresky for reminding me to get my arse into gear and **_**write**_** this (I had to pull myself away from Fringe, which I am newly obsessed with).**

**This phrase was stolen from An Artists Accounts profile, and a similar thing was suggested by JAStheSPAZZrocks and I Can Hear The Sea, so thank you.**

**I hope you enjoy it:  
><strong>

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><p><strong>A friend will be polite when they meet your boyfriend,<strong>

**A best friend will calmly threaten to break every bone in their body if they hurt you.**

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><p>"You've <em>got<em> to be kidding me," He grumbled dryly as I attempted to drag him down the main staircase, past the stream of students jostling us about in their haste to get to Hogsmeade and into the Entrance Hall.

I rolled my eyes. "Why, _on earth_, would I be joking?"

He spluttered. "I don't know… maybe because _Greg_ is a douche?"

I glared at him, halting in my efforts halfway down the stairs, causing him to walk right into my back and have to catch me before I tripped down the next couple of steps.

"Why did you say it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like _that_."

"Like what?" I gave me an innocent look. I didn't buy it for a second.

"Like _'Greeeeeg'_," I placed my hands on my hips, daring him to argue.

Which, being Scorpius, he did.

"I didn't say it like that," He complained.

Then he smirked and cracked up, which gave him away immediately.

"Scorpius!" I slapped him, half-playfully, on the arm and he chuckled, evidently finding himself hilarious.

"What?" He protested, still grinning.

"_Please_ be nice to him," I pleaded. "I'm begging you, do _not_ do anything to scare him away. Promise?"

"Ahh, Rosie," I knew this wasn't going to be a smart comment, by the way my best friend patronisingly slung his arm over my shoulders and continued guiding me down the stairs. "When have I _ever_ scared away a gentleman caller of yours?"

I would have shot him a glare, but he was standing too close and if I had learnt one thing about glancing at my best friend from such a close proximity, it was that I would be in danger of wanting to jump him.

And I, Rose Weasley, had a boyfriend.

So jumping my best friend was not the best idea. Not that it had been smart _before_ I started dating Greg, but still…

So I opted for shoving Scorpius to the right slightly by knocking him with my body.

He smirked down at me, half a head taller - just enough for his chin to graze the top of my hair in a dangerously affectionate way.

I forgot the conversation for all of five seconds.

Then I spotted Greg standing by the front doors of the castle, having already made it past Filch and the queue to leave, and remembered that he probably wouldn't appreciate his girlfriend looking cosy with another guy - even if said guy was _only _her best friend, and there had been untrue rumours for years about them being together.

I wasn't regretful.

I wasn't.

Okay, so I was _a little._

But I had Greg now - a kind, sweet, adorable guy who treated me as nothing short of a princess. No matter what Scorpius says.

And why should I believe Scorpius anyway? He was my best friend therefore, by definition, he treated me with cynicism, critique and by mocking.

I rolled my eyes for my own benefit as we reached the line of students signing out, and made a conscious effort to detach myself from my best friend.

"Okay," I sighed, putting on my best stern face (which usually lasted only ten seconds or so when faced with Scorpius). "I _really_ like this guy, Scor, so… just don't be your usual _'funny-guy'_ self and scare him away with your terrible humour and ridiculous comments, okay?"

He hesitated, but could evidently tell that I was being serious. He nodded once, reluctantly.

"Kill joy," He murmured softly into my ear.

I just grinned as we gave Filch our names and he signed us out.

"And, by the way," He continued. "I have _never_ scared off one of your boyfriends."

I let out an involuntarily, but truthful, exclamation of derision. "What? Yes you have!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

"Alright," He challenged, as we made our way over to Greg, whose friends were now calling their goodbyes to him and disappearing out to the grounds and towards the gates leading to Hogsmeade. "Name _one_."

"Ben Sham, Luke Finnegan, Paul Rusk-"

"Okay, okay," He smirked at me through a sideways glance under his sweeping blonde fringe. "So I _may_ be a little protective…"

"A little?" I managed to laugh out, before we reached Greg, and the conversation had to end.

My attention was suddenly grasped by this amazingly cute guy, brown hair spiked up and leather jacket making him look the epitome of cool.

"Hi," I breathed timidly, my heart quickening a little.

"Hey Rose," He smiled back shyly.

The smile disappeared immediately when his gaze flickered over to Scorpius, whose hand had been hovering over the small of my back as we walked, steps in sync and bodies close together on instinct and through years of practice.

He glared him down a little, but Scorpius didn't back off.

He _was_ protective.

"Erm… Scorpius just wanted to say _'hi'_," I told my new boyfriend. It was a total lie - which we all knew - but I felt compelled to say that more than _'Scorpius just hates you and really doesn't want me to go out with you, but as you don't like each other anyway, I figured he better come and say hello so that I could at least be sane'_.

It didn't really have the same calming effect on the situation, did it?

"That was nice of him," Greg said, his tone wary and suspicious.

"I guess Rosie is just that important to me," Scorpius snapped back.

I rolled my eyes, then decided to deflect the conversation. I opened my mouth to say _Merlin knows what_, but luckily Lily beat me to it.

"Hey Rose, Filch couldn't remember whether you and Scor were-" She stopped dead at the scene in front of her. My cousin took one look between the silent testosterone-filled competition between my boyfriend and my best friend, then at a nervous me, and promptly saved my life, "Oh, Greg! It's nice to actually meet you as Rose's boyfriend. You two make such a sweet couple, isn't that right, Scorpius?"

Scorpius raised his eyebrows at my cousin, glare completely obvious on his face, then muttered back dryly, "Yeah, bloody _perfect_…"

At the risk of one of them punching the other, I promptly asked Lily, "What was Filch fretting over?"

"Oh, he wanted to know whether you had paid the fee for the trip to Holyhead on Saturday?"

I sighed, "That man is so unorganised. I _told_ him…" I rambled to myself as, completely forgetting the tense situation at hand, I stalked back over to Filch.

I only remembered that I had left two guys who would love nothing more than to beat each other up, once I was half-way in conversation with the old caretaker.

My only solace was Lily, who I hoped was keeping them from the massacre or shouting match they were no doubt itching to start.

Or so I thought.

As soon as the whole trip-fee thing was sorted, I spun back round, eager to help Lily with whatever nonsense conversation she had started up to stop them from arguing, when I noticed that she was standing directly behind me.

"Lily!" I exclaimed, aghast, spinning back to the doorway to survey the situation. "You left them alone?"

Lily just shrugged her shoulders, and mumbled, "Well, it was about time Scorpius snapped…"

I glared at her, ignored the comment (_we were __**just friends!**__ Best friends. Nothing more)_ and marched us back over.

They were standing close together, glaring at each other, but the conversation evidently hadn't gone past harsh words.

As Lily and I approached cautiously, they didn't notice us, and continued their argument.

Whatever it was, Lily and I made the unspoken mutual agreement to eavesdrop.

Scorpius appeared to be winning.

His tone was quiet, on the surface calm, but the undertone was unquestionably threatening and his voice dripped with venom and seething anger.

_Scorpius had never really liked Greg._

_Or any of my boyfriends, for that matter..._

"-and if you _ever_ do anything to hurt her, I will not hesitate to find you and knock some sense into you. Am I clear? Because she isn't just someone you can _mess around with_. She's important to me and she's _special_. You won't find anyone as fun, and kind and _good_ as her. Break her heart, _Greg_, and I'll break your arm. In fact, I may just decide to break everything _but_ your arm. You won't find getting that Quidditch scholarship very easy then, will you?"

Greg stared at him with wide eyes.

He gulped, then nodded slowly.

"I'm glad you understand me," Scorpius smirked evilly - _the bastard_! "I hope not to see you around very often."

And then he turned, waved cheerfully at me, and dragged Lily away to meet Al outside the Hogwarts gates, calling, "Don't forget that you're _my_ date for the Spring Ball, Rosie, no matter how many _pretty boys _you find! Bros before… well, _douches_, girl!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at his dorkiness, earning myself a surprised look from the evidently still shocked guy to my left.

"Erm, private joke…" I mumbled.

Greg didn't look impressed.

_I found I didn't really care._

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><p><strong>I hope you at least enjoyed it a little, and at the very least it made you smile. :D I'd love a review?<strong>


	14. You're A Mess

***sheepish grin* I'm so very sorry! It's been a month - which is **_**ridiculous**_**! I'm so sorry, RL ran away with me, I lost my muse, and I've been dealing with stuff recently so I've literally not been able to write.**

**Excuses, excuses, I know - I apologise! I hope you're all still here and reading. I'll try my best to be better at this updating thing, I swear!**

**I hope you enjoy this one: it's dedicated to love without expectation because they've been so lovely to me on here ever since I started publishing fics, and also because they married their best friend, so it's rather fitting to this story. (Yes, that's the sound of the rest of us being jealous).**

**This was a mixture of prompts from hiimawkward and JAZtheSPAZZrocks:**

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><p><strong>A friend will tell you that you look pretty to cheer you up,<strong>

**A best friend will say, "Man, you're a mess. Get yourself together."**

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><p>"If anybody so much as <em>breathes<em> pity in my direction," I grumbled warningly through the pillow to my dorm mates as they tried to coax me out of my bed. "I will skin them alive. Okay?"

Dom and Mary exchanged an alarmed glance, but Lily just rolled her eyes at me and huffed.

Eventually, the four of them (with Roxanne) managed to haul me into a sitting position in the middle of my double mattress.

I refused to budge any further.

I just wanted to cry and eat chocolate.

_Was that too much to ask for?_

"Look, Rosie," Roxanne sighed as she took a tentative seat beside me. "You haven't moved for eight hours straight. Ordinarily, we'd give a girl at least 72 hours before we badgered her, but, let's face it, this is you, and you haven't ever _not_ done anything with your time. Wallowing in self pity just_ isn't_ you."

I just looked at her with a blank expression, waiting for the point of her sentences, or for her to go away. Whichever really, I didn't mind. I just wanted to be left alone.

When I didn't answer, Roxanne gave Dom a pleading look, and Dom took her place on my right, effectively trapping me between the two of them. With the head of my bed and a wall behind me, and Lily and Mary at the foot of the bed, I realised pretty quickly that I wasn't going anywhere.

There was silence for a few seconds, no doubt they were wondering how to continue the conversation. I saved them the effort, giving them all a long, scrutinising stare, before asking rhetorically, "Are you trying to stage some sort of intervention?"

"Listen, Rosie-" Lily tried.

"If anybody calls me Rosie one more time I am going to kick you all out of here," I snapped. I couldn't help it. "I'm not _delicate_ and _devastated_ and _emotional_. I'm _fine_, okay? Just because… I'm not going to spiral down into a state of depression over one _stupid, arrogant, selfish_ little boy, okay?"

Okay, so it was all talk, but… whatever.

Dom and Roxanne glanced at each other warily, Mary gulped, Lily nodded once, trying to stop her eyes from filling with tears.

She'd always been sensitive, and emotional, and cried easily.

I blinked, and fully took in my surroundings and their presence.

I realised that I was being rude, and ungrateful. They were only trying to help.

"Oh, Lils," I mumbled softly. "I'm sorry. I just…"

"It's okay," Lily nodded vigorously, blinking away the tears. "There's no reason for me to be upset. You're the one in crisis."

I gave her a weak smile for her choice of words. "I'm not… I _am _sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you - any of you. I just… I get defensive when I feel vulnerable, and when I get defensive, I take my anger out on other people."

"It's okay, Rose," Dom stroked one hand through my hair, currently a complete bundle of frizzy, ginger chaos. "We just want to help."

"I know you do…" I could feel myself about to start to tear up again. "But… you can't - I guess I'm just not good enough for him."

There was a loud protestation of _'no!'s'_ from them all, but I ignored it.

"I'm just not cool enough, or interesting enough, or… or…" My voiced hitched as a wave of tears, which I'd been trying to suppress for the past hour, over came me.

"Shhh," Roxanne pulled me towards her in a sideways hug.

"He's the one that's not good enough," Mary spoke up. "You're too good for him - that's what it is, Rose. He's stupid for letting you go."

"I'm… not pretty enough for him," I mumbled, trying not to cry again. I was in an old Quidditch jersey and leggings, hair a frizzy mess, mascara all down my face, eyes puffy and red.

I had to give them some credit for actually trying to disagree.

"Of course you are!"

"You're so pretty!"

"You're smoking hot," Dom grinned, trying to make me laugh. It worked a little. "Come this years Christmas Ball and he'll be kicking himself."

"You guys are… lying to… make me feel better-"

"We're not!"

"You're totally out of his league."

"I…" I tried to wipe some of the mascara and tears off my face, but it didn't work considering I was still in the process of crying. "I… don't know what to do without him. He's the only guy that would remotely look at me like… I was interesting. And now… I'm not even attractive to _him_. I'm… going to end up an old maid, I just know it!"

Before any of my faithful friends could protest, the door banged open rudely and my best friend Scorpius Malfoy swaggered in, strode determinedly past Mary and Lily and flopped down on my bed in front of me, Dom and Roxanne, laying across it width-ways.

He barely gave me a glance, instead stared up at the ceiling, placing his hands casually behind his head.

"Nott is the most ridiculous idiot I've ever known," He declared, handing me a tissue from his pocket.

I took it graciously, and blew my nose. "He- He is?" I asked meekly.

"Of course he is!" Scorpius exclaimed so vehemently that he thrust his arms upwards before letting them flop back down onto the mattress with a _thump_. The other girls were a little confused by his dramatic entrance, and the way he wasn't tiptoeing around me. "He actually dumped you?"

I nodded, unsure why he was questioning it.

"Like… in front of everybody?" Scorpius persisted, not noticing that I was about to fall into another round of sobs if he insisted on making me relive the memory. "Just… like that? Just a quick _'We're over, it got boring'_ and that was it? No apology?"

I burst into tears again, and he blinked, tilted his head to glance at me in surprise. Lily, Mary, Dom and Roxanne all slapped him at the same time - and with quite a bit of force.

"Ouch!" He complained, sitting up finally. "What are you crying about, Rose?" He asked it like I was being ridiculous.

"Y-you… are being horrible, Scor…" I managed between sobs. "Let me… be upset…"

He rolled his eyes. _Actually rolled his eyes!_ My tears and anger at Nott was beginning to fester into anger at him.

"No, I'm not!" He looked to the other girls for support. Surprise, surprise, they didn't give it to him.

They glared.

"You are such an ignorant, pig-headed _man_!" Roxanne complained. "Can't you see she's upset?"

"Of course I can," Scorpius sighed impatiently. "I just don't understand _why_."

"Because he… he… _humiliated me_!" I managed to squeak out.

"I know _that_," Scorpius sighed, "Why do you think I beat him up?"

That caught us all off guard.

"You…?" I froze and stared at him.

Scorpius shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, back to the whole crying thing…" He waved a hand in the general direction of my face. "What's up with that?"

"I-"

"Rose is obviously feeling completely upset and questioning herself right now, Scorpius," Mary told him gently, not condescendingly. "She thinks he dumped her because she's not good enough, and because she's not pretty enough."

Scorpius gave me one long piercing look and asked, "Is that true?"

I nodded. "Yes."

He paused. Then shook his head in indignation. "Well right now you're not exactly the pick of the bunch-"

"Sc-"

"-_But,_" He gave Dom a look which silenced her indefinitely. "That's just because you're grovelling in self pity. You're being ridiculous, Rose. He's a tool, and you're fretting over what the problem with _you_ is? You should be asking yourself what on _earth_ possessed you to get with him in the first place. I mean, why worry over _him_?"

"I'm not… worrying," I tried to protest.

"Man, you're a mess," He gave me a pointed look and his voice rose intensely. "And he's not worth it. You're _so_ much better than him. Get yourself together. Man up."

There was a long silence.

The others shuffled awkwardly, partly in shock at his blunt, harsh approach.

The clock by the door ticked quietly in the background.

"Right…" I mumbled finally, a little taken aback but grateful for the approach nonetheless, breaking the silence. He was completely right, of course. "Erm… I guess… I'll go get cleaned up?"

He nodded, "'Atta girl."

I stood up with Dom and Roxanne, and they followed me to the bathroom door to help sort out the mess that was my face.

As we reached the threshold, I suddenly stopped and turned to face my best friend, feeling better already. "And Scorpius?"

He'd made himself comfy again, laying back across the bed. "Hmm?"

"Address me like a Labrador again and I'll hex you into next week, got it?"

He grinned.

"A threat!" He was positively ecstatic. "That's more like you."

I rolled my eyes, but I had to admit - he'd made me feel much better.

_Screw Nott._

I had the best friend ever.

_Who cared about what Nott thought?_

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><p><strong>Thank you all so much for reading! I'd love a review, of course - it completely makes my day, and I could do with some of that right now. Much love. x <strong>


	15. Food Thief

**You are not dreaming. This is really a new chapter. Surprise!  
><strong>

**I didn't plan to take such a long break from FFN, and writing in general, so I'm incredibly sorry it happened. I am so grateful for the support you've all given me, and I sincerely hope that you're still around and still sticking with me. Thank you so much either way. x  
><strong>

**As I had **_**so**_** many people give me food-related quotes, I realised it was about time I wrote this! :D So thank you: Nerdygirl.108, JAStheSPAZZrocks, heather blaze, WhenTheMoonShines, Purple-Tube-Flowers, scorpiusrose4loiffe, percy'shellokitty32 and I Can Hear the Sea. Also to Secret Agent Chipmuh-nk, who suggested something similar to this. :D**

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><p><strong>A friend asks before they take your food,<strong>

**A best friend is the reason you don't have any food.**

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><p>"I swear, if Professor McMann makes us run laps <em>again<em> next week, I'm going to tell him to shove his laps up-"

"Scorpius," I snapped, flicking my eyes up from my copy of the _Evening Prophet _to reprimand him.

He gulped. "Hmm?"

"Sit down," I grinned, "You're dripping water everywhere."

He took the seat opposite me eagerly, with Al next to him and opposite Lucy. The rest of my cousins were sitting around us, milling about, too full up to move.

Al and Scorpius dumped their Quidditch gear and broomsticks on the floor, and tried to ring out their jerseys.

"It's minus five out there, and snowing. Of _course_ I'm wet," He replied, reaching across my plate to snatch a chip.

I put my book down on the table and slapped his hand in an effort to stop him, but he took the chip anyway, dunking it into the tomato sauce as well.

"Hey!" I pouted.

"What's the matter, Rosie?" He smirked. "Not a lover of sharing?"

"I'll show _you _sharing in a minute," I growled under my breath, glaring at him from under my eyelashes.

The half-playful tone of my voice, however, caused his smirk to deepen, and he replied with a cocky, suggestive, "Was I the only one who that sounded dirty to?"

I leaned forwards and smacked him round the back of the head for that.

Unfortunately, it simply gave him time to sneak under my attack and take another few chips from my plate.

"Scorpius!" I reprimanded him, but it barely held any conviction, just amusement.

He shot me his charm smile, and shook the rain and remaining snowflakes out of his blonde hair.

"Hey, Rose," Lucy suddenly leaned across Al. "Can I have your last dumpling?"

I shot Scorpius a pointed look, then turned to Lucy and smiled. "'Course, Luce. I'd be happy to give it to you… because _you_ asked."

When I turned back to see my best friends expression, almost all the chips were gone from my plate.

I glanced up at Scorpius, ready to raise my eyebrows in a glare, but couldn't hold the mock-anger because of what I saw.

He had so many chips in his mouth that they were sticking out and his cheeks were obviously full. His eyes were full of mock-innocence, with sparkling amusement shining in the background.

There was a pause, and then I cracked up. I couldn't help it.

He had to spit out some of the chips so that he didn't choke on them as he burst into laughter too.

"You're so weird!" I grinned.

"So are you," He managed to reply between laughs. "That's why we're best friends."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you just appreciated me for my food?"

"That too," He smiled. "Al would have yelled at me by now if I'd taken _his _food."

"I guess I'm just used to it, Scorpius."

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><p><strong>Okay, it's short and probably not that entertaining. I hope you enjoyed it though. I'm hoping to get back to longer chapters (my usual 1,500ish words for this story). I just really wanted to get something up, and I couldn't think of a way to expand on this without dragging it out. I miss you guys, and I miss writing RoseScorpius, so hopefully the inspriation will come thick and fast now! I'd love to know what you thought either way. Has this type of thing happened to you before? Because it's happened to me multiple times (and I've been on both ends of it! Lol.)  
><strong>

**Also, for anybody who's read my Help Me, Please, there's a poll on my profile about the sequel, which I'd be incredibly grateful for you to take.**

**Thank you all for reading, and I love you all. x  
><strong>


	16. Lovingly Ridiculous

I've been away for a long, long time. I'd love to say I'm back, but I really cannot commit to that. What I do know, though, is that I lost my way with writing a little bit, but the support, kindness and wonderfully enthusiastic messages I've come back to have been such a huge impact to me. Thank you all so much, I cannot express just how much it means to me.

So, here's a new chapter of this series of one-shots. I hope you enjoy it! The phrase in question was suggested to me by ShiningHowlz914 (if you're still around!)

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><p>A friend would say "I love you, but you're stupid."<p>

A best friend would say, "You're stupid, but I love you."

* * *

><p>It had been a running joke ever since they'd been friends in First Year.<p>

Rose would do something undeniably stupid – attempt a spell well beyond her grade level, end up helping Albus with a prank practically designed to be caught, trip over her own two feet – and Scorpius would make her feel better by pointing out the idiocy of the act.

Once, in Fourth Year, they'd been sitting in the library, quietly working on a Potions essay which was due the following week.

Scorpius was sitting at the window, staring out across the gloomy grounds of Hogwarts and attempting to will away the bad weather so that he could go out and practice his Wronski Feint.

Rose, ever the studious of the two, sat at the table, the sole one in the corner of the deserted library. It was silent, just the gentle pitter-patter of the rain as it met the windowpane could be heard.

Rose turned the pages of her books in hushed tones.

The clock on the wall ticked by ever so quietly, lulling Scorpius and at least three other students to sleep.

Then, it happened.

Rose Weasley sneezed so loudly and so violently that the rickety old chair she had been balancing on, on one leg in an effort to reach a book just out of reach, wobbled, toppled and fell backwards with the loudest _bang_ Madame Pince had surely heard in decades.

Scorpius span round, caught sight of her on the floor, and threw his head back to laugh so loudly that they both were promptly kicked out of the library.

"I love you, Rose," he grinned at his ridiculous friend, "but you're stupid."

Ever since then it became his thing. His phrase.

She hadn't even noticed he'd repeat the same words until the middle of Sixth Year, some point between that time she'd accidentally transfigured McGonagall into a cup or that time she stupidly told Professor Longbottom about those kids growing questionable herbs behind his greenhouses.

"I love you, Rose," he'd sigh with a ridiculous grin on his face, "but you're stupid."

The phrase was usually followed by a punch to the arm or a smirk and an eye roll.

Scorpius didn't even seem to be aware he said it, he just said it because it was true.

She'd always liked the phrase – as someone who didn't have many close friends, or indeed friends who she could be open or blunt with, it became somewhat of a favourite of hers.

It was simply a lovely reminder that he did actually want to be friends with her, and that someone valued her.

However, it had become somewhat of a problem by the Easter of their Sixth Year.

If Albus hadn't pointed out the fact that she was madly infatuated with everything about him, she would have thought no more of it.

But he had. And since then, every small "I love you, but…" caused her heart to flutter and then falter.

Those words did not convey _that_ sort of love, and she truly believed they never would.

And yet, one day, it was different.

By the Easter of their Seventh Year, they'd changed – they'd been through a lot together: loss, loyalty, and heartbreak.

This day, they were sitting back at that same desk, and that same windowsill, except that Scorpius was now the one rooting through the many books strewn across the table, and Rose was forlornly staring out the window across the grounds.

It was a beautiful day, and it seemed that all the inhabitants of Hogwarts had made their way outside to enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. Scorpius was serving a punishment in the form of a ridiculously long essay for Astronomy class.

In actuality, he was gazing across the mountain of work at the girl sitting opposite him, quietly and peacefully joining him inside the stuffy room for no reason other than that she'd wanted to.

And his staring was exactly why he saw it happen.

Rose, ever peaceful and clearly considering an idea within some deep crevice of her mind, did not see the bludger as it barrelled towards her window, having gone rouge from some friendly Quidditch match out across the lake.

It slammed into the glass panelled window right beside her face with such force and such abruptness that she visibly tensed, shook as if she'd seen the ghost of Voldemort himself and fell backwards off of the windowsill and unceremoniously landed in a pile on the dusty floor of the library at Scorpius' feet.

He was so busy trying to breathe through his laughter that he didn't even have time to think about helping her up.

Getting her elbows underneath her body, she irritatingly blew the strands of hair out of her face, threatening the boy under her breath.

His next words stopped her short.

"You're ridiculous, Rose," he managed through his laughter. "But I love you."

And she knew things had changed. It meant something different.

* * *

><p>Thank you so much for reading! I haven't written in so long, so I hope this isn't too bad. For this one, I took the prompt as if "best friend" really meant there was something more to their relationship, which developed as a result of the development of their friendship.<p>

I hope you enjoyed it!

Much love,

Sarcastic-Bones x


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